Pune, 5th March 2026: The ₹2,800 crore Equal Water Supply Scheme implemented by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has come under scrutiny after serious flaws surfaced in several parts of the city.
Contaminated drinking water has reportedly been supplied in around 70 locations, including areas such as Kondhwa, Hadapsar and Katraj, where new pipelines were not installed under the project.
According to officials, some localities were excluded from the plan to reduce project costs. As a result, old pipelines are still in use in these areas. Many of these aging pipelines run alongside sewage lines, and leakage from the sewage network is reportedly entering the drinking water supply, leading to health concerns among residents.
The civic body has received multiple complaints about discolored and foul-smelling water, often described as yellowish or reddish. Residents fear that continued exposure to such water could cause serious health issues.
PMC has identified around 70 locations where contaminated water supply has been reported. These include Yerawada Shivraj Chowk, Ashok Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Yashwant Nagar, Kamaraj Nagar, Janta Nagar, Balghar Wada, Kharadi–Sambhaji Nagar, Rathi Chambers, Loop Road in Yerawada, Tadiwala Slum, Nagpur Chawl Masjid Galli, Jadhav Nagar, areas between Agam Temple and Jain Temple, Janwadi, and several lanes in Wadarwadi. Similar problems have also been noted in Pashan, Dhayari, Sutardara, Kondhwa, Shivneri Nagar, Bhagyoday Nagar, Hadapsar, Katraj, Santosh Nagar, Parvati Darshan, Dhanakwadi Adarsh Nagar, Sasanenagar, Tarawade Vasti, Kondhwa Budruk Sainagar, Vetal Baba Vasahat, Indiranagar Datta Mandir, Sukhsagar Nagar and Super Indiranagar.
The Equal Water Supply Scheme was originally launched in 2017 with an estimated cost of ₹2,008 crore. The city was divided into five packages and the plan proposed laying around 1,700 kilometres of new pipelines.
However, the pipeline length was later reduced to about 1,355 kilometres to cut costs. Although the deadline was extended to March 2024, nearly 20 percent of the work remains incomplete even by March 2026.
So far, around ₹1,600 crore has been spent on the project out of the total planned cost of about ₹2,800 crore. Work carried out by Larsen & Toubro is about 90 percent complete, while Jain Irrigation has completed around 65 percent of its assigned work.
Nandkishor Jagtap, head of PMC’s Water Supply Department, said, "Pipelines installed under the Equal Water Supply Scheme are not facing contamination issues. The problem has been reported only in areas where new pipelines were not laid and old pipelines run alongside sewage lines. PMC has issued a ₹20 crore tender to repair and relocate the affected pipelines to resolve the issue".
