Civic body to share Bhama-Askhed’s water with Alandi

Five MLD will be directed through a pipeline towards district

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to share water with Alandi Municipal Council from the Bhama Askhed dam project. The civic body decided to provide five million litres per day (MLD) unfiltered water through the main pipeline.VG Kulkarni, chief superintendent of PMC’s water supply department, said, “We have decided to provide five MLD of unfiltered water to Alandi from our pipeline, which is passing through their jurisdiction. The proposal has been tabled at the standing committee for approval.“

During an agitation in March, villagers adjacent to the dam demanded water from project. The total cost of the Bhama-Askhed project is nearly Rs 380 crore, of which nearly Rs 110 crore has already been utilised. The dam is located in Khed taluka. The administration had to lay down a 42-kilometre long pipeline from the dam to Pune.The state government had allotted 2.64 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet water to PMC, considering the city’s demand in future.

On October 15 last year, the Bhama-Askhed water supply project had faced strong protests from local villagers of Karanj Vihare, who had stopped the project and damaged machines.They wanted to resolve the long-pending issue of farmers’ rehabilitation due to the construction of the BhamaAshked dam. Following which, Alandi Municipal Council demanded a quota from the project. However, the issue of rehabilitation is still pending with the state government.

The project was initiated for the eastern part of Pune in February 2014.A supply of 200 MLD was provided to this part of the city and also to fulfil the future demands of water consumption. Kharadi, Yerwada, Dhanori, Wadgaonsheri, Kalas and Vidyanagar are the areas that come under the purview, which suffer from water scarcity.