Pune civic body to spend Rs 81 crore to clean 2,515-km-long sewage lines without human intervention

The Pune civic body has decided to clean all drainage lines in the city, covering 2,515 km and 142,463 chambers, using high-capacity suction and jetting machines with water recycling facilities, eliminating the need for human intervention and reducing risks to labourers’ lives—at a cost of Rs 81.35 crore over seven years.

The blockage of sewage lines is common and leads to unhygienic conditions in the city. It also led to flooding of roads in many parts of the city during the recent monsoon. Last week, around 76 residents fell ill after blocked sewers led to sewage mixing with drinking water in Bavdhan Budruk. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) repaired the drainage and provided medical treatment to patients.

“The state government had offered to provide a high-capacity suction and jetting machine with a water recycling facility to the PMC. One is of 18.5 tonne capacity and the other is of eight tonnes. The annual expenses are Rs 68.18 lakh and Rs 1.27 crore, respectively. But considering the drainage network in the city, at least eight machines of 18.5 tonnes and five machines of eight tonnes are required for the purpose. The civic body has put forward a demand to the state government,” said Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram.

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The civic body has created a sewage line network of 2,515 km and 1,42,463 chambers across the city. This is going to expand, officials said. Using central funds, the PMC has also undertaken a project to set up sewage treatment plants to release treated water into the Mutha river.

The PMC will incur an expense of Rs 13.57 crore annually for maintenance if it is provided with additional machines for cleaning the drains, the Maharashtra Government was informed.

Ram further said the total expense of a machine would be Rs 95.01 crore for seven years.

The agency appointed by the state government to provide the machine has agreed to supply four eight-tonne machines and seven 18.5-tonne machines for cleaning drains in the city, he said, adding that the cost of using the 11 machines for seven years would be Rs 81.35 crore.

Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast.

Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste.

Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter.

Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. … Read More

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