PCMC discusses ways & solutions for STPs in Pimpri Chinchwad societies to remain functional

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to discuss & implement ways & solutions to keep the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in Pimpri Chinchwad societies functional.

As per further information from the PCMC, complaints were being received by the PCMC Commissioner about non-operation of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in housing complexes/societies under Pimpri Chinchwad jurisdiction. Also, according to the survey report conducted in June 2021 as per the instructions of the PCMC Commissioner, STPs of 47 out of 145 societies under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation jurisdiction were found to be non-functional. 

For this purpose, meetings were organized from time to time with the President/Secretary of the housing complexes/society in the hall of the PCMC Engineer, Drainage Department to understand the problems of the societies.

At the time of the said meeting, the difficulties encountered in running the STPs regularly through the president, secretary and members of the societies mainly included the electricity bill being charged in excess, not knowing the agencies for STP maintenance and repairs etc.

Therefore, it was pointed out that it is necessary to get the information of the private agencies doing the annual maintenance and repair work of the STPs and also the concession in the electricity usage rate for water purification and sewage treatment projects. For this purpose, it has been primarily noticed that private companies need to regularly inspect the STP projects and provide technical support for the purpose of preventing pollution of rivers in Pimpri Chinchwad.

However, the PCMC does not have enough manpower for this. Therefore, consulting agencies were appointed for a period of 1 year from the year 2023-24 to monitor the permanent functioning of STPs of private societies and to provide technical support to the societies for the same. The said agencies have provided technical support to the societies for permanent implementation of STP by visiting the STPs of the societies from time to time.

Out of a total of 337 societies under the PCMC jurisdiction, 296 societies have been found to have STPs operational. Also, the process of adopting the procedure of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, regarding monitoring & making STPs functional, is being adopted by Pune, Nashik and other Municipal Corporations in Maharashtra.

Therefore, in order to keep the sewage treatment plants in Pimpri Chinchwad societies functional, it is necessary to provide technical assistance to the societies and to appoint a consulting agency for regular inspection of sewage treatment plants. For that, it is necessary to know the rates for such matters to make a price analysis.

Since the pricing regarding such matters are not available in the government’s price list, the rates have been requested from private consultants who have experience in this type of work.

After receiving the said pricing, as per the minimum rate, the amount for the said matter will be analyzed and accordingly the final decision will be taken for the coming year. Accordingly, further action will be done.

Shreyas Vange