By Ashish Wagh
Pune, July 26, 2024 : It is very well known deluge that halted the financial capital of India. Mumbai bore the brunt of incessant rains and it drowned to the hilt killing many and displacing many more.
Pune experienced a similar situation yesterday, July 25. While the IMD had predicted that the weather would be pleasant, rains washed the life of Punekars.
State Irrigation department, known to be of scarce utility for the benefit of Punekars, became vigilant and prompt after the skies broke loose. It swift into action and released “excess” water accumulated in the Temghar, Varasgaon and Panshet dams only to hit the mammoth Khadakwasla dam which holds the safety of Pune as a city.
Suraj Ranpise, an entrepreneur from Khadki who works out of his office in Deccan Gymkhana area, said, “Pune, because of haphazard and unplanned development, is inching towards becoming another Mumbai which is becoming a victim of nature’s fury. The municipal corporation isn’t proactive in any sense and it is playing with the common man’s lives.”
No area in Pune district was spared by rains yesterday. A senior engineer in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Shivshankar Sonawane stated that the system of disaster management in Pune is in tatters. “The coordination between PMC and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) needs to be better to tackle natural exigencies like yesterday.”
Border issues are not new to India. Even Pune is not spared by it. Take the case of an under-construction bridge on the Mutha and Pavana rivers aimed to connect Khadki in PMC limits and Sangavi in PCMC limits.
The connect between the two localities is mired by a serious problem that of dumping of construction debris in the river bed.
According to S K Patil, coordinator of the housing societies lining the Bopodi/Khadki side of the river confluence, “We face a serious threat to our lives due to the increase in water level in the river bed.” Over 3000 residents living here faced the fury of rains yesterday when the river swelled up and water entered the societies upto three feet high forcing residents to stay put in their homes. A planned power cut added to their woes.
The PCMC administration however is not keen to take on the responsibility of the grave situation. “It is the prerogative of the State Government to ensure that riverbeds are secured. A municipal corporation can only execute orders received from the Irrigation department. Different departments in PCMC have different jobs to do. The corporation can certainly try to address the water overflow issue in Bopodi if PMC officials co-operate with us,” said Uttam Kamble from the Water department.
With no authority stepping forward to resolve these issues, residents are left in a lurch, gasping for breath in the melee.
