Pune: City mayor Manjusha Nagpure on Friday said the PMC will carry out a fresh survey of all illegal encroachments on nullahs and other streams, blaming these for the flash flooding in the aftermath of recent unseasonal downpours. The decision was taken in a meeting with civic officials on Friday, a day after major waterlogging was seen across city areas after heavy rainfall.“The civic administration must make efforts to reduce chronic flooding spots. There is also a need to improve the stormwater network and lay pipelines for quick discharge of stagnated rainwater,” Nagpure told reporters. She further said that applications for tree trimming should be approved 48 hours after their receipt and old pipelines should be replaced.Nagpure added, “PMC should not differentiate between private properties and public locations when it comes to trimming dangerous trees.”The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has identified 270 waterlogging-prone spots around the city where urgent repairs and cleaning are needed. Out of these, work will begin at 120 sites from Monday, said officials.PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said the civic body has undertaken infrastructure development works to deal with flash-flooding. “We will finish 10 large retaining walls near such hotspots before the monsoon. Works for nullah cleaning and stormwater drain cleaning will be hastened,” he assured.A sharp, intense spell of rain lasting nearly two hours on Thursday afternoon threw life out of gear across Pune, dumping 84mm rainfall over NDA and 65mm in Shivajinagar, catching residents off guard and triggering widespread waterlogging, traffic snarls and power outages.Ranjana Navnath Giri, a resident of Ganeshmala off Sinhagad Road, died after a tree fell on her around 3.30pm near Navshya Maruti Mandir. Two others suffered minor injuries in the accident.More than 100 complaints of uprooting of trees were received by the authorities. The PMC’s disaster management cell reported 21 incidents, while the fire brigade recorded 82 complaints from different localities.
