PMC still not done with its pre-monsoon works

Rains round the corner, people worry about inconvenience in wet season as civic body fails to meet works deadline

The wet season may start anytime now but pre-monsoon works remain incomplete in the city. Officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have failed to meet their own deadline of May 31 for the works.u00a0The main pipeline works on JM Road in Deccan Gymkhana and D P Road in Kothrud have been causing a lot of inconvenience to residents and road users.u00a0Works are also underway on Bajirao Road, Shivaji Road, Ganesh Khind Road, Koregaon Park, Kalyani Nagar, Kondhawa and Vimanagar.

“The laying down of huge storm water line has been on for the past two months and will continue for the next 15 to 20 days,” Madhukar Katkolkar, a resident of DP Road, said. “It will be very problematic for us if the work is not completed in time. The PMC has not kept its promise of complete the work by May end. This place has become very dangerous at night as entire area has become muddy and slippery.”

Tardy progress: Incomplete drainage pipeline works near Sambhaji Garden on JM Road (top) and on DP Road in Kothrud. Pic/Krunal Gosavi

Deepak Joshi, a resident of JM Road, also complained of half-complete works. “The drainage line work and storm water line works at Deccan corner are still only half-complete, and the entire place is a big mess,” Joshi said.u00a0Additional City Engineer, Road, Pramod Nirbhawane promised the completion of the works in the eight days. “The RCC walls work on JM Road and DP Road will get over in the next three days. The main work of laying storm water and sewage water lines of 1,800 mm diameter is in the completion state,” Nirbhawane said.u00a0

Sewage line leakages
An internal leakage in sewage lines during the cleaning of gutters and storm water drains caused human waste to flow out of the main chamber near Hatti Ganapati temple in Sadashiv Peth. The PMC had to deploy a specialised machine to clear the sewage line. PMC technician Sudhakar Dullam said the problem occurred because of mixing of water line and sewage line because of some technical issue.

The odour side of the PMC: Sewage flows out from the drainage chamber near Hatti Ganapati in Sadashiv Peth yesterday. Pic/Vivek Sabnis

Local BJP corporator Dhanjay Jadhav said the sewage line was thin and was laid about 30 years ago. He said the line needed to be replaced. Additional City Engineer, Road, Pramod Nirbhawane said a similar problem was reported from 10 places across the city but it was not possible to lay new lines before the rains. “We are identifying such spots and cleaning the lines on a war footing,” he said.

Pre-monsoon work funds allotment
>> Cleaning of gutters, drainages, storm water lines and sewage water lines: Rs 4 crore
>> Construction of 25 culverts on nullas: Rs 21 crore
>> Resurfacing work on city roads in 80 areas: Rs 15 crore

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