Pune: As the city prepares for the Thursday water cut, residents hope for a smoother restoration than last week, when the single-day shutdown left many areas waiting hours, even days, for the supply to normalise.
Across several parts of Pune, residents said they had been battling low water pressure throughout the week, triggering shortages and forcing families to carefully ration whatever water they received. NCP (SP) member in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Kaka Chavan said the delayed restoration had once again exposed glaring weaknesses in the city’s water distribution network. The problem is uneven distribution,” Chavan said.
The concern goes beyond delayed restoration. “Citizens are unhappy with the low-pressure supply and poor management of distribution. Water is available in overhead tanks, yet many localities are not getting adequate supply.
The administration must urgently take comprehensive steps to prevent a deeper water crisis,” he said. they acknowledged that restrictions could be intensified gradually if the situation deteriorated While PMC sources said such a drastic step was not immediately on the cards. “The authorities also need to closely monitor valve operations so that every locality gets its fair share of water,” he said. Facing mounting criticism, officials from PMC’s water supply department said teams had been working to clear bottlenecks in the network and improve distribution. The residents, however, said confidence in supply would be restored only when the taps started flowing again.
The issue has resonated beyond opposition benches. During the recent PMC general body meeting, several corporators voiced concerns over what they described as a worsening distribution crisis. Congress leader Chandu Kadam warned that the city was already struggling to recover from a single-day shutdown. “If Pune cannot restore normal supply after a one-day cut, how will it cope if harsher restrictions are imposed during late winter or peak summer? Those fears are not unfounded. The irrigation department has already suggested stricter restrictions further by moving from a weekly shutdown to an alternate-day supply model, effectively leaving residents without water for three to four days every week. For residents who are already struggling, the prospect is alarming. They expressed confidence that the restoration exercise following Thursday’s shutdown would be quicker and more efficient.
Aundh resident Punit Kadam said the civic authorities must focus on three priorities after every shutdown — ensuring water reaches all areas by Friday afternoon, increasing supply volumes on Friday and boosting pressure across the network.