Pune: "The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is using more water than the prescribed quota from Khadakwasla dam. Now the time has come to assess where excessive water is going and for that, the corporation will have to conduct a water audit," said Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan in Pune during an inauguration function on Saturday.

Mahajan was speaking at the inauguration of a 500 million litre per day (MLD) water treatment plant in Parvati. During the programme, Mahajan pointed out the excessive water lifting by PMC from the dam. He said, "The PMC has a quota of 11 Thousand Million Cubic feet (TMC) water from Khadakwasla dam. However, it is lifting 17.5 TMC ft water. So, the corporation will have to check where the excess water is going. Is anyone doing theft of water? The corporation should conduct an audit of their water usage. They should use water judiciously and recycle it."

He said, "If the PMC uses water as per their quota, other (industry and farming) sectors can also get water. Due to use of excessive water by the city, there is conflict occurring between urban and rural areas."

He added, "For avoiding encroachment on Water Resource Department lands, we will develop playgrounds and cycle tracks with the help of the PMC. A decision will be taken in the meeting to be held next week."

Mayor Mukta Tilak, Deputy Mayor Siddharth Dhende, Member of Parliament (MP) Anil Shirole, Leader of House in PMC Shrinath Bhimale, Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao, City Engineer Prashant Waghmare, Water Supply Department Head VG Kulkarni and others were present.