PUNE: “The water resources department will have to supply 1,350 million litres per day (MLD) water to Pune despite a dispute between the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the department,” said Minister of State for Water Resources and Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivtare.  

Shivtare revealed this while addressing the media in Pune on Saturday. He said, “The water resources department decided to provide 1,350 MLD water to Pune. It is not fair to cut this quota to 1,150 MLD. We have to give adequate water i.e. 1,350 MLD to Pune. I also mentioned this in the water resource department meeting recently.”

He said, “We should also provide adequate water to rural parts of Pune district. Therefore, we have to give two rotations to the rural parts for the drinking purpose instead of agriculture. The government is working to provide drinking water to the rural parts from the Khadakwasla dam to Phursungi through three different tunnels. It will help to save water, which is getting wasted due to evaporation and leakages. It will also stop water pollution.”

Last September, the city’s water problem became severe. The Khadakwasla Irrigation division alleged that excessive water was being taken by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Later, they claimed that the rural parts of the district faced a water crisis due to insufficient rainfall during the retreating monsoon. Hence, the division imposed water cuts in Pune. Therefore, the PMC started supplying water for five hours once in a day with higher pressure. All political parties criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for this move.