Is quality of water of Khadakwasla Dam under threat because of construction activities in the surrounding area? The National Defence Academy thinks so.

The NDA is concerned that the construction work at the backwaters of the Khadakwasla, a potential threat to the surrounding ecology, will cause permanent damage to the reservoir water in the coming years.

Little has been done despite notices promising action from the district authorities and little can be done till the election model code is lifted.

In May, following many informal petitions by the NDA, the then PMC commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi, had written to the Director, Town Planning, and the Divisional Commissioner, suggesting certain measures to safeguard Khadakwasla reservoir from pollution.

Pardeshi made four suggestions: each house along the Khadakwasla backwater should have a sewage treatment plant, which should function according to the MPCB norms; a 500-metre strip of land surrounding the backwaters of Khadakwasla should be reserved to act as a buffer zone and the area be converted into a "No development zone"; a halt on all construction activities along the backwaters; an immediate stop to pollution from poultry farms and hotels in the area.

In a letter dated May 12, Pardesh wrote that the “backwaters of Khadakwasla is surrounded by poultry farms, hotels, and other activities. Due to these activities the water gets polluted which is more hazardous to Pune. It is very much necessary to protect Khadakwasla lake from pollution,” he said.

Recently the NDA members undertook a cleaning campaign at the Khadakwasla but NDA inhabitants said the larger picture had changed little since May. Despite the town planners taking note of the destruction of the hills surrounding the Khadakwasla reservoir, it continues on the ground level. “We are only posted at the NDA. We will soon be transferred out. It will not matter much to us, but the people of Pune must take note of what is happening to the Khadakwasla dam water. They should force the PMC to take note,” said a senior faculty member at the NDA.

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