As rain continued to pound Pune district–filling up dams and compelling authorities to discharge water from reservoirs, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation on Sunday sounded a red alert to people living along the Pavana and Mula rivers and shifted around 11 citizens to safer locations.
Municipal commissioner Shekhar Singh, who visited various flood-affected areas, said water entered the housing societies in Sanjay Gandhi Nagar and Subhash Nagar areas. ”We took the help of police to shift the residents. Some people refused to move out of their houses…We took the help of police to move them out,” he said. Citizens have been shifted to civic schools where they are being provided food, water and medicine.
The PCMC chief said the discharge from Pavana dam was 9,000 cusecs on Sunday while the discharge from Mulshi dam was 27,000 cusecs. ”Though it rained incessantly since yesterday, late Sunday afternoon and evening, the intensity of the rain slowed down. But we are cautious and are shifting people to safe places. Though we shifted 1,100 people, many have gone to their relatives’ place,” he said
Singh said besides Pavana and Mulshi dam, the discharge from Khadakvasla dam in Mutha river also led to increase in water levels in Pavana and Mula rivers. “The backwaters of Mutha rivers leads to swelling of Pavana and Mula rivers,” he said.
Civic officials said a team of NDRF is stationed at Chinchwad in case the situation worsens. The team arrived in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Sunday morning.
Domnic Lobo, a resident of Sangvi who lives close to Mula river, said,”We shifted to our son’s place after the water level in the river rose to at least 15 feet. Several families from Sangamnagar and Mulanagar have also shifted to safer places.”