The Pavana River Improvement Plan

The Pavana river improvement plan of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is likely to be expedited with the Union government offering to provide consultants for the project to be completed through publicprivate partnership.The offer for providing consultants for the project came when additional director of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), A.K. Mehta, visited the corporation and reviewed various developmental projects.
According to municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma, consultants appointed by the government would prepare the entire plan for river improvement and also complete the bidding process.
Asked about the avenues of financial gain available to private agencies if the project was to be completed through public-private partnership, Sharma said the details were being worked out. He pointed out that the Pavana river improvement project could be completed along the lines of the Sabarmati river front development plan. The PCMC would send its plans to the departments concerned, he added.The Pavana river is the main source of drinking water for the entire twin township. While the river is clean upto Ravet, where water is lifted by the PCMC, it starts getting polluted downstream from Chinchwad onwards as sewage water as well as industrial effluents are discharged in the river. Against the 350 MLD (million litres per day) drinking water that is supplied to the city, the corporation currently has the capacity to treat around 177 MLD of effluents. The rest is discharged directly into the river. It is estimated that around 70 MLD of domestic effluent is discharged directly into the river without treatment. From Chinchwad up to Dapodi, the river has been classified as highly-polluted by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.