Pune Municipal Corporation has made developers responsible for arranging water supply to residents of housing projects in the city’s 32 merged villages until the civic body begins providing an adequate and direct supply. The revised policy requires developers to submit a new undertaking with building-permission proposals and continue supplying water at their own cost under specified conditions.
The policy applies to construction proposals in villages merged into the Pune Municipal Corporation limits on October 4, 2017, and June 30, 2021. Earlier, developers had been required to submit undertakings stating that residents would receive adequate water before obtaining construction permissions. However, residents of several projects were later left to pay for water tankers after developers withdrew from the responsibility once homes were sold, according to the report by Sakal.
The municipal building department had issued warnings in such cases, but gaps in the earlier policy made it difficult to fix responsibility or take firm action against developers. The revised framework was prepared after former mayor Manjusha Nagpure directed the administration to establish a clearer policy in the general body. City engineer Aniruddha Pawaskar has issued an office circular implementing the changes.
Under the revised rules, developers must accept responsibility for water supply at the stages of obtaining building permission, securing the completion certificate and receiving the occupancy certificate. The obligation covers borewells, water tankers, temporary storage tanks, their maintenance and the associated water costs.
The supply must continue for at least three years or until Pune Municipal Corporation starts its actual water supply to the project, whichever period ends later. Developers must also record the water-supply responsibility in sale deeds, allotment letters and documents related to the registration of the residents’ cooperative housing society. The same condition must be stated clearly in agreements signed when flats or commercial units are booked.
The policy also makes laboratory testing mandatory for water supplied through tankers or borewells. Developers will be responsible for ensuring that the water supplied to residents meets the required quality standards. This provision links the obligation not only to the availability of water but also to its safety and quality.
Pawaskar said deficiencies in the earlier undertakings had prevented the municipal corporation from fixing responsibility on developers and had led to residents’ anger towards the civic administration. The revised policy, he said, was intended to address those shortcomings.
The municipal corporation has warned that developers who stop supplying water may face penalties, suspension of permissions and restrictions on new approvals. In serious cases, the policy provides for criminal action. The implementation of these enforcement provisions will determine whether the revised undertaking becomes an effective protection for residents or remains another condition attached to project approvals.
