Pune: This week, July 25 marks one year since massive flooding took place in the city’s Ektanagari society and surrounding localities of Sinhagad Road, sparking massive damage to property, disaster relief efforts, and many promises of improvement by authorities.Yet, the assurance of “building retaining walls to avoid such incidents again” remains on paper — not just for Ektanagari but also along the Ambil Odha that flows through the Parvati area, which witnessed major flooding in 2019.While construction of a retaining wall along Ambil Odha was even initiated by civic authorities in 2022, it was left halfway finished a year later, citing the undelivered promise of Rs200 crore in funds from state govt for the project.Meanwhile, local residents of such areas live in fear of the next heavy spell of monsoon rains, saying authorities have provided them with not much more than hollow claims.Ektanagari resident Ujjawala Taral told TOI, “The civic administration must take steps for a permanent solution. The rainy season creates terror of flooding in our vicinity. If retaining walls are built or any other solution found, it will reduce the probability of waterlogging.”For this vulnerable society, Pune Municipal Corporation had announced a redevelopment project — an Urban Redevelopment Scheme cluster as per Section 14.8 of the Unified Development control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR).This involves relocating 1,383 residential units and 67 shops from the flood-prone blue line areas of Ektanagari, Vitthalnagar, and Nimbajnagar in the Wadgaon zone to PMC land in Hingne Khurd Survey No. 19, so as to permanently eliminate flood risk to existing buildings.However, the project is yet to take off.The journey has been a much longer one for residents along Ambil Odha. In 2019, after Katraj lake filled up to its maximum capacity and water overflowed during the monsoon, massive flooding was witnessed in the Tangewala society near Aranyeshwar. Water also inundated the parking lot of Treasure Park society, damaging over 600 vehicles, alongside causing extensive damage in the Gururaj society.Residents of these affected areas said a 400m retaining wall should have been built long ago to guard them against the likelihood of flash floods again. But after a mere 100m, work stopped completely.Parvati resident Anant Kharat said, “Authorities should not ignore complaints of citizens. Thousands of people living under the threat of flooding could be saved if a wall is built here at the earliest.” Pravin Nangude, another resident of the same area, said, “The semi-built wall has left us in fear of a repeat of floods. PMC should make sure that all properties are safeguarded and the wall is completed right away.”PMC officials refuted that they had started construction of protective culverts and retaining walls along vulnerable nullahs. In 2023, state govt had announced a Rs200 crore package for strengthening flood protection infrastructure, to be spent at locations in five assembly constituencies. However, civic officials said that after PMC issued tenders, controversy erupted and the process had to be scrapped and restarted.Asked why it has taken so long to complete the pending work, Santosh Tandale, a senior official of PMC’s drainage department, said, “The civic body has legal limitations for building retaining walls on private properties. We have reached out to state govt for funds.”
