Pimpri Chinchwad’s Water Pipeline Project Behind Schedule, New Deadline Set for 2025

Pimpri Chinchwad, 17th December 2024: The work on the water pipeline project to supply water to Pimpri Chinchwad City from the Bhama Askhed dam is progressing slowly. Although the four-year deadline for the project has passed, the work remains incomplete. As of today, only 48% of the pipeline work has been completed, and a notice will be issued to the concerned contractor.

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) administration is now taking steps to extend the deadline by another year. As a result, residents of Pimpri Chinchwad will have to wait an additional year for a consistent water supply.

Currently, the city receives water from the Pawana Dam and Andra Valley Dam. A total of 610 million litres per day (MLD) is supplied, with 510 MLD from Pawana, 80 MLD from Andra Valley Dam, and 20 MLD from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). For the past five years, water has been supplied on alternate days, but this supply has been irregular, inadequate, and characterized by low pressure.

Pimpri Chinchwad is rapidly growing, with large housing societies being developed on all sides of the city. As a result, the city’s population has now exceeded 3 million.

40 % of the pipeline work falls under the Maharashtra State Government. There were delays in obtaining permissions from the Maharashtra Government’s Public Works Department (PWD), MIDC, Forest Department, and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Of the remaining ten kilometres of the pipeline, two and a half kilometres have been acquired. The process of land acquisition for the remaining seven and a half kilometres is ongoing. Water from Andra Valley Dam will be brought from Umbare Navalakh through a single water pipeline to the water purification centre in Chikhali. Seven and a half kilometres of pipeline will be laid along this route; however, work on this has not yet started. Currently, water is being lifted from the Indrayani River through the Nighoje Embankment.

PCMC Additional Commissioner Pradeep Jambhale held a meeting with the contractor and officials from the water supply department. He expressed his displeasure over the slow pace of work and reprimanded the contractor. The four years given to the contractor for the work have expired. A review meeting will be held, and a notice will be issued to the contractor. A one-year extension for the remaining work is under consideration, said Pramod Ombhase, Chief Engineer of the Water Supply Department.