Pavana pipeline project not scrapped yet

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) commissioner, Ashish Sharma, on Friday clarified that the state government has not yet scrapped the closed water pipeline project to lift water from the Pavana river.

“The state government has not issued any notification about scrapping the project,” he said, adding that it has not taken any final decision on the project.

At a high-level meeting in Mumbai recently, the state government authorities clarified that they would take a final decision on the project only after the report of the State Jalsampada Niyamak Pradhikaran.

Recently, the Central government released Rs63 crore as instalment for the project. The Maharashtra government stopped work on the project on August 10 and ordered a judicial inquiry after the police firing that killed four farmers, including a 45-year-old woman.

The PCMC has spent Rs286.85 crore on the project so far and the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM)
sanctioned Rs363 crore for the project as its last instalment.
Villagers and farmers have consistently opposed the project ever since the PCMC began work on it in 2008. The PCMC has diverted pending funds of the pipeline project for the Nashik Phata-Wakad flyover work.