Pune: Pune's water needs are only going to grow, and the city's mayor wants the state to act now rather than later. Mayor Manjusha Nagpure has asked Maharashtra's Water Resources Minister, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, to sanction a 25 TMC water quota for the city and start a special desilting drive at the Khadakwasla dam system to boost its storage capacity.
The mayor raised these demands during a face-to-face meeting with the minister in Mumbai, where she also handed over a formal proposal covering infrastructure development and river conservation efforts for Pune.
Pune's population keeps climbing, and so does the pressure on its water supply. City officials have long flagged that the existing quota is not enough to keep pace with demand, and silt buildup in the dams has been quietly eating into how much water they can actually hold. Nagpure's visit was essentially an attempt to get ahead of a problem before it turns into a crisis.
The meeting was not just about water, either. The mayor also brought up traffic troubles, asking the Water Resources Department to step in on a related issue to help ease congestion in the area a sign that in Pune, water infrastructure and city traffic often end up tangled together.
No timeline has been announced yet for when the minister's office will respond to the quota request or the desilting proposal.