Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation had installed water meters and closed circuit television cameras at its seven tanker filling stations across the city three years back. The aim was to monitor the movement of tankers, but civic activists on Monday found that the equipment installed to regulate water supply had become defunct at four of its main filling points.Sajag Nagrik Manch, a citizens’ group, has flayed the civic administration for non-functioning of the monitoring machinery and demanded an inquiry into the matter. It said vested interests could be behind the sorry state of affairs.“Tankers come and go, but there is no proper system to check how much water is being lifted from the different filling points. We suspect that there is gross misuse of water,” said Vivek Velankar of the Manch. The PMC has seven main water filling stations in the city which are located at Vadgaonsheri, Parvati, Chatushrungi, Yerawada, Ramtekdi, Padmavati and Patwardhanbaug.Members of the Manch visited four stations to get information under provisions of the Right to Information Act. The activists found that water meters at Parvati, Yerawada, Vadgaonsheri as well as Ramtekadi tanker filling points were not working. The CCTV cameras at these places were either non-functional or damaged. The display boards of CCTVs were misplaced. At Vadgaonsheri, the CCTV camera was turned the other way so that it could not record anything.Vishwas Sahasrabuddhe, another member of the Manch, said they had been raising the issue of black marketing and misuse of water tankers for the last several years which compelled the civic body to install the water meters and CCTV cameras to keep an account of the water drawn by tankers.“The civic body is not practising what it is preaching. The civic body has plans to install water meters at citizens’ houses. How will it maintain these meters when it cannot even maintain a handful of meters at its filling stations?” asked Sahasrabuddhe.Tankers are operated by the PMC and contractors. The civic body hires tankers every summer through a tender system. Many politicians are involved in the business of supplying water through tankers.V G Kulkarni, head of PMC’s water department, said the civic administration is looking into the matter. “A complaint from the citizens’ group has reached our office. We will see if there is any technical issue with the water meters and CCTV system. Our officials will go to spot and take the necessary steps,” he added...............................................................................................TIMES VIEWIt is imperative that the Pune Municipal Corporation maintains the monitoring machinery at its the water tanker filling stations. The civic body should keep an accurate record of the amount of water being lifted from its facilities. Extra care needs to be taken to prevent the misuse of tankers, especially during the summer. Regular inspection of filling sites should be made mandatory and responsibility should be fixed on erring ward officers.

Stay updated with all the Pune Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.