Pune: The civic administration is yet to operationalise the additional water tanker filling points announced a week ago, although officials insisted that preparations are under way to launch these at the earliest.During the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) general body (GB) meeting held last week, three new tanker filling points were announced in Bavdhan, Mohammadwadi and Dhayari to meet water demands from these and surrounding areas, especially pockets of merged localities where PMC is yet to develop a water distribution network.Officials from the civic water supply department said steps are being taken to operationalise such points at all possible sites. While preliminary works have begun at Bavdhan and Mohammadwadi points, the site is yet to be finalised for a similar point proposed in Dhayari. Options of setting up points in Katraj, Kothrud and more areas are also being explored.Corporators from the city’s peripheral areas said they have been following up on this issue with PMC for long, as water availability in these zones has become critical since the administration started alternate-day water supply. The staggered supply began on June 15 in the face of dwindling dam stock, a late monsoon, light rain spells and an El Nino weather forecast for the year.Hridas Charvad, a corporator from the Sinhagad Road area, said the civic administration has studied more than a couple of sites for potential tanker filling points. “PMC will have to be proactive in providing relief to citizens from the water crisis by deploying more tankers,” he said. PMC general body member Dilip Vedepatil from the Bavdhan area said, “Work for a tanker filling point in our area has started and the facility is expected to be operationalised in the next eight to 10 days.”Civic officials also said various measures have been taken in the two weeks to improve water supply with a focus on changes in schedules, action against wastage and deployment of additional tankers. However, many residents said the alternate-day supply has led to reduced water pressure, leaving them with much less of the vital resource for daily use.Water supply department officials said daily deployment of tankers has gone up by 300, from 1,200 to 1,500, in the last fortnight. “The tankers are taking trips to areas where supply has been low. We are also exploring options to rope in more contractors to deploy additional tankers,” said an official in the know.Cuts for select areas on July 2The areas of Sahakarnagar, Padmavati, Mukundnagar, Indiranagar, Bibvewadi, Salisbury Park, Market Yard and Chavannagar will not receive water on Thursday as PMC has announced repairs of a leakage in the water supply line from Parvati to the Padmavati overhead tank. Supply will be restored on Friday morning, said officials.
