Cement pipes survive raging torrent in Pune

Not even one of the 1,700 cement pipes lying on the bed of the Mutha was damaged during the recent downpour when 67,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) water was released from the dams, said environment officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Mangesh Dighe.

He told DNA on Monday he had inspected the pipes from Mhatre Bridge to Sangam Bridge. They are covered with mud, but that will not affect the utility of the pipes, which are meant for the proposed river development project. The cement pipes cost Rs27,000 each. They have a diameter of 1.6 m and weigh five to six tonnes each. The cost of pipes lying on the riverbed is about Rs45.90 lakh. The estimated cost of all pipes to be used for the entire project is Rs14 crore.

Dighe said the work was stopped after the Bombay high court stayed the river development project in May. As the PMC authorities could not dig channels and lay pipes before the onset of the monsoon, the cement pipes have been kept on the river bed.

Taking into account the heavy flow of water likely during the monsoon, the direction of the pipes was changed to make them parallel to the flow of the river. Due to this initiative, the water flow was eased and the pipes did not get carried away.

He said some cement pipes are also lying on the river bed near the Bund Garden and the Kasba pumping centre near Dengle Bridge. Those are ordinary cement pipes for temporary dams to be built for projects in the river. They are reused for the same purpose and are not meant for the river development project.

In a section of the media, it was recently reported that many cement pipes lying on the riverbed of the Mutha were badly damaged during the flood on September 3.