Pune: “We lay and repair pipelines for water supply in many houses of Pune, but we don’t get tap water to drink in our homes,” is the sentiment in almost every alternative house in Uruli Devachi, where a large a population of plumbers lives.
Nearly five years after they were merged in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, the water scarcity in Uruli Devachi and Phursungi remains. Before the merger in 2017, residents banked on tankers for water. The dependence has only increased. in the next five years. Naturally, the residents’ demand for establishing a proper water supply network to provide tap water has become louder.
Barely 15km away from the core Pune city, tankers come to the villages once in two days just for around 10 to 20 minutes. At least 70-80 households depend on a tanker of around 10,000 litres.
The residents need to put in a lot of efforts to fill up the water containers in the limited time and stock up for two days. Many accidents occurred in the rush and some have suffered serious injuries.
“If the tankers give a miss for a day, we are left without water for four days. This happens mostly on Thursdays. The tanker service providers claim that they can’t fill up the tankers because of power cuts at the filling stations,” said Gajanan Borkar, a resident of Uruli Devachi.
“The water quality is a matter of concern for us. We often get contaminated water and have no option but to boil it before using it. This happens very frequently during monsoon. It leads to health hazards,” said Shailaja Barate of Uruli Phursungi.
According to PMC officials, the civic administration has increased the number of tankers for these areas in the last five years.
Nearly 175 tankers are sent to Uruli Devachi and Phursungi villages, or a population of around 2lakh.
Residents of the villages said the overhead water tanks were built and even some pipelines were laid. But since the work is half-done, this water supply infrastructure is of no use. They get water in taps in low pressure from canal and well once or twice a week, but it is not potable.
Aniruddha Pawaskar, the head of PMC’s water supply department, said, “The civic administration is working on improving the water supply network. Talks with Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran are under way for a scheme in these areas. Once it is completed, many households will get tap water.”
The Uruli Devachi and Phursungi residents claimed that the erratic timing of tankers made things difficult for them. “If tankers reach the designated spot after 9am, it becomes very tough for us to attend office on time,” one among them said.
“Plumbing is the main source of income for a majority us. Almost each household in this village has at least one person in the business. We have to fix our work assignments based on the tankers. It adversely affects our work,” said plumber Jalal Sayyad, who resides here.
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Originally Appeared Here