Day: September 2, 2016

This is the time to protect Pulse Farmers in Marathwada
Agriculture · Dams · Irrigation · Maharashtra · Marathwada

This is the time to protect Pulse Farmers in Marathwada

SANDRP3 Comments

“I have harvested Moong (green gram) from my farm, now I’m harvesting Udad (black gram). Their price is crashing each day…I may not get even the Minimum Support Price (MSP)…But I’m not supposed to care about the price… its solely the farmer’s responsibility to reduce inflation and make India a superpower.”

…says Ashok Bhau, a dry land farmer dependent on rainfall and groundwater in the heart of Marathwada: Osmanabad.

Last year his Moong failed completely, there was no seed development and although his Tur (Pegion Pea/Arhar) fetched a very good price, it did not mean anything for the family as the productivity was dismally low following three droughts and dry wells[i]. Like many farmers in Marathwada, he burned his sugarcane on 4 acres after watering it for many months… finally there was no water to sustain it. We had written about soaring pulses last year.udad (1).jpg Continue reading “This is the time to protect Pulse Farmers in Marathwada” →

My visits to Pune’s Sewage Treatment Plants: Citizens Not Allowed!
Maharashtra · Rivers

My visits to Pune’s Sewage Treatment Plants: Citizens Not Allowed!

SANDRP7 Comments

Like almost all urban areas, Pune’s seage management has been dismal. In a recent Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in National Green Tribunal (NGT) for failing to control water pollution in Mula Mutha Rivers it was revealed that several crucial details regarding sewage generation and disposal in Pune city remain unknown even to PMC. PMC failed to furnish even the basic details like present and future generation of domestic sewage (from 2022- 2025), present handling capacity and performance of STPs for six months.[i]

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has recently agreed to extend a loan of 1000 Cr. to PMC under project ‘pollution abatement of River Mula-Mutha’.[ii] Utilizing this funding PMC has proposed to build 11 new sewage treatment plants (STPs) with treatment capacity of 396 MLD (Million Litres per Day). It is hard to imagine that PMC who celebrated the signing of the loan agreement in January 2016 was not in position to furnish even the basic details about sewage generation and treatment in May 2016.

Currently in Pune there are total ten STPs with installed capacity of 567 MLD. Five of them have been funded by PMC while the other five have been funded by JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) Phase I. Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of these plants has been outsourced by PMC to various contractors. Treated effluent is being discharged in the rivers Mula, Mutha Rivers. PMC recently admitted in the print media that though the installed capacity of its existing STPs was to treat 567 MLD, only 290 MLD was being treated at present.[iii] The balance – almost 50% of the sewage – is going into the river untreated. Pune’s Rivers are some of the most polluted in the country. Continue reading “My visits to Pune’s Sewage Treatment Plants: Citizens Not Allowed!” →