PUNE: Thousands of litres of water were wasted on Wednesday afternoon on Tilak Road near the New English School due to a malfunctioning valve. This is the second such incident in January. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) denied the wastage of water. However, people witnessed water flowing on the road for over one hour. 

PMC Superintendent Engineer Pravin Gedam told Sakal Times, “There was a malfunction in the valve. It was not operating for the past two days. We brought a new valve from Mumbai on Wednesday. Water was not being supplied through this line for the past two days. Therefore, there was no wastage of water. We replaced the valve on Wednesday afternoon.” 

However, Sachin Patil, a student, told Sakal Times, “I saw water flowing on Tilak Road around 1 pm. It was a huge wastage. It is surprising that when most of the city is facing irregular water supply, the PMC is allowing water to flow away.”

On January 17, due to a technical problem in the butterfly valve on Sinhagad Road, around 15 lakh litres of water were wasted. At that time, civic activists raised questions on the maintenance work of the Water Supply Department, which is carried out every Thursday by stopping the water supply throughout the city.