Pune: PMC to approach High Court for resolving water due issues

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is planning to take up its water dispute with the Department of Water Resources to the Bombay High Court. The Department of Water Resources has fined PMC with an outstanding balance of Rs 478 crores for using water above its approved limit.

The PMC claims to deliver water to the recently incorporated villages. However, the Department of Water Resources has refuted these claims and said that they supply water to the villages. In this context, the PMC has also received a letter from the Water Resources Department. As a result, the authorized quota for the included villages has also been lowered to around 2.5 TMC. 

 As a result, in April, the municipal corporation received the bill from the water resources department for the two months of January and February. This bill displays a total demand of 1,196 crores. Of which the Irrigation Department has received payment of Rs. 859 crores from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Rs 478 crores are still due. 

As the Municipal Corporation does not accept this water line, meetings have been held with the officials of the Irrigation Department in this regard. But it has not been resolved. So now the Municipal Corporation has decided to fight a legal battle through lawyers without discussing this matter at the level of officials. The proposal for this has been approved by the Commissioner. 

In the bill sent by the Water Resources Department to the Municipal Corporation, the total water levy for the period from March 2016 to February 2024 is 1,196.83 crores, of which the Municipal Corporation has paid Rs. 859.36 crores. But the Irrigation Department has shown the arrears as Rs 478.32 crore instead of Rs 337.47 crore, the Irrigation Department has overstated the amount by Rs 146.85 lakh. Therefore, the water supply department officials said that the arrears figure is wrong.

The state government has sanctioned a 16.36 TMC water quota for the area within municipal limits. But 12.82 TMC of water is provided by the Water Resources Department. Considering the increasing population of the city, the municipality consumes more water. Therefore, for using more water than the sanctioned quota, a penalty is levied by the Municipal Corporation. Also, since this fine is levied at the industrial rate, the municipal corporation has to pay crores of rupees extra every year. The rate charged by the Water Resources Department is much higher than the residential rate. Therefore, even if the fine is levied, it should not be at the industrial rate, the municipal corporation said. But the water resources department is not ready to listen. Due to this, there is confusion in the Municipal Corporation and Water Resources Department. According to Pune Municipal Corporation’s claim, there is no processing industry in the city, so water is not used for industrial purposes. In view of this, the municipal corporation demands that the water tariff should not be levied at the industrial rate.