Even though the monsoon is just around the corner, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is continuing with road digging works. Every year, PMC sets a deadline of May 31 for the completion of road digging work; however, because work is frequently not finished by that date, this year’s deadline too was extended to June 10. But the civic body missed the deadline, and work related to water and drainage departments is still underway in several areas of the city.
The water supply department is currently working on laying pipelines for 24×7 regular and equitable water supply project in Baner, Balewadi, Shivajinagar, Salisbury Park, and Karvenagar. Meanwhile, the drainage department has excavated roads for stormwater drain installations on J M Road and Koregaon Park.
Ashish Thakur, a resident of Salisbury Park, said, “It is essential to hold PMC officials accountable for the excavation work and take action against them instead of solely targeting the contractors. In eight months, PMC should have completed all road digging work.”
V G Kulkarni, chief superintendent engineer, road department, said, “Private players have ceased digging in the city. Currently, only emergency work is ongoing.”
Nandkumar Jagtap, superintendent engineer, water supply department, said, “We cannot afford to delay the 24×7 water supply work due to the monsoon. We are laying water supply pipelines in various parts of the city under emergency provisions. However, we are taking precautions to carry out reinstatement work as soon as possible to minimise inconvenience to the public.”
Sahebrao Dandge, superintendent engineer, road department, stated, “We are gathering information about the digging work being carried out by different departments in the city. We have already instructed all departments to complete work as early as possible before the monsoon begins.”
Santosh Tandale, chief superintendent engineer, drainage department, said, “To prevent waterlogging, our department is undertaking work on Jangali Maharaj Road and in Koregaon Park area. This work is crucial and if not completed can cause problems during monsoon.”
Sudhir Kulkarni, a civic activist, criticized PMC’s poor planning. “PMC has been repeating the same mistakes. On one hand, they take action against private players, and on the other hand, they dig roads to carry out their work. If anything goes wrong, PMC blames private players but forgets their own actions.”
“They initiate pre-monsoon work late and fail to meet the deadlines. When the monsoon arrives, they hurriedly complete the work without following proper procedures,” he said.
