Pune: Environmentalists have expressed grave concerns about incessant and prolonged discharge of wastewater containing concrete into the Jambhulwadi lake near Katraj. According to them, the effluents originate from ready-mix-concrete (RMC) plants situated close to the waterbody. RTI activist Rupesh Kesekar said he has witnessed discharge from RMC plants being released into nullahs, going on to pollute the lake.
Local residents said repeated concrete dumping has been taking place in lake’s vicinity. Kesekar added, “This discharge has persisted for years now. I have discussed the necessity of a treatment apparatus with the units.
The companies said they already possess these. However, they still lack the capacity to process all the water discharged. The quantity of RMC plants has proliferated, all situated alongside nullahs that empty into the lake.
The water contains a high concentration of cement and concrete, which occasionally obstructs nullahs. I once got this blockage removed from a nullah using an earth-mover machine as the plants had also deposited a massive amount of debris into it.” Alerted about the issue, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) recently conducted an on-site inspection to investigate the claims.
Kartikeya Langote, sub-regional officer, MPCB, told TOI, “We did not discover evidence of RMC plants discharging effluents, but found one that needs to be shut down for other violations. However, sewage was once again observed being discharged into the lake. A letter has been sent to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in this regard.
” Citizens disagreed with this assessment. “There is a group of plants situated on the right side of the lake, and housing societies and numerous hotels at the other ends. We are aware that they all discharge effluent into the water body and also dump debris on the banks,” alleged Vikrant Singh, a resident of Katraj.
Sewage discharge into the lake has also been a persistent problem, causing the death of several fish over the years. “Former civic commissioner Vikram Kumar in 2023 pledged to close all nullahs carrying sewage into the lake and install drainage lines by Feb 2024. But nothing changed.
The lake still contains sewage, with the addition of RMC and wastewater from hotels today,” said Singh, adding, “Concrete water will lead to deposition on the lake surface, resulting in complete cessation of groundwater percolation and destruction of aquatic life. Lack of administrative effort will kill the lake.” Jagdish Khanore, superintendent engineer of PMC’s drainage department said, “There were three nullahs releasing sewage into the lake.
Since last year, we completely shut down two of them. After the monsoon ends, the last one will also be closed.”.
