Even as the residents of Vimannagar are used to receiving less water, what irked them was going without water for two consecutive days. That too after the routine water pumping stations’ repair work was carried out and the neighbouring areas started receiving water.
In a statement issued earlier this week, the city administration had stated that Parvati, Vadgaon, Pune Cantonment, SNDT and Holkar Bridge pumping stations would be closed for a day to carry out essential repair and maintenance work. Hence, there would be no water supply in the city on Thursday.
However, the supply to Vimannagar areas was delayed by a day-and-a-half when one of the pipes at the Holkar Bridge supply centre broke.
Speaking to dna on Saturday, Vimannagar corporator Mahadev Pathare said that it was a common phenomenon. “People in this area suffer water shortage for a day as the tank doesn’t get filled due to load shedding on Thursday. This time the situation worsened because of the damage to one of the pipes at Holkar Bridge, but that has been sorted out and the supply would be restored by 2 pm today (Saturday),” Pathare said.
However, the corporator failed to explain why Tingrenagar, Vishrantwadi and the other areas that also fall under the new Holkar pumping station started receiving water by Friday evening, while Vimannagar residents had to wait until Saturday afternoon for it.
Despite repeated attempts to contact the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) waterworks department, the officials were unavailable for comment. Meanwhile, Vimannagar residents had to rely on tankers for two days.
“No water supply for two days caused huge inconvenience to all the citizens. There was no prior intimation. In addition to this, the water tanker charges were exorbitant,” said Reeta Sinha, secretary of Lunkad Queensland, a residential colony in Vimannagar.
Despite Pathare’s claim that water supply would be resumed by 2 pm on Friday, the facility was finally restored in Vimannagar areas at 4 pm on Saturday.
