Pune city and its surrounding areas received heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in tree-falling incidents and power cuts at various locations across the city. Due to the heavy rains, trees were uprooted, damaging vehicles in many areas. Many roads became rivers due to waterlogging issues.
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Areas like Lohegaon, Koregaon Park, Shivajinagar, Sinhagad Road, Sahakarnagar, Parvati, and Kothrud witnessed heavy rainfall. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted heavy rainfall and thunderstorms for the next four days. The temperature in the city has also dropped to 27 degrees Celsius.
Due to the heavy rains, several tree-falling incidents have been reported in Sarang Society in Sahakarnagar, Shelar Mala in Katraj, Padmavati Temple area, Sinhagad Road, Model Colony, Mahatma Society in Kothrud, Sharda Niketan Girls Hostel in Karve Nagar, and on DP Road in Kothrud. The incidents of trees falling in Kothrud resulted in damage to parked vehicles along the roadsides. In Shivane, trees fell near Dangat Patil Industrial Estate, Koregaon Park, Bhavani Peth, in front of Vaishali Hotel on Fergusson College Road, and in the premises of Sevasadan School in Erandwane.
The fallen trees have obstructed traffic flow on several roads, causing traffic congestion. Timely action by fire department personnel resolved the issue, and traffic resumed smoothly. Several residents of Kalyaninagar complained of power failures and were informed that it would take two hours to fix the issue and restore power.
Rajeshwari Lakhani, a resident of Kalyaninagar, said, “There was a power cut and a lot of fluctuation. The power was restored at 10pm. During rains, we experience frequent power cuts which hamper our work. In the morning on my way to work, I saw some smoke coming out from the MSEB box near St. Joseph Colony, Ramwadi. I immediately stepped back, and it instantly burst into flames. The entire box started burning, due to which the MNGL supply valve has been shut off.”
Another resident pointed out, “Due to heavy rains, the entire road from NM Medical to the turn into Cloud 9 lane is flooded quite badly. Despite constant communication to the PMC, they have failed miserably. Every year we face the same issues. In spite of paying crores of rupees as taxes to put new pipelines and rebuild roads, we still find ourselves in the same position. The PMC sends machinery to pump out water wherever it accumulates and feels they are done with their responsibility. Despite much heavier rains in Mumbai, they don’t face these sorts of pathetic scenarios. The underbridge road going towards the airport was supposed to be cleaned, as per the PMC’s statement, three to four days back. We would like to know what sort of cleaning took place that didn’t even last for a week. It simply shows the quality of work.”
An official from the fire department said, “We are promptly taking action if we receive any information of tree-falling incidents. Yesterday, we cleared around 21 locations across the city where tree-falling incidents happened.”
Rajendra Pawar, MSEDCL Chief Engineer, Pune District, said, “Every year we undergo pre-monsoon repair work, but this year due to early monsoon, our repair work got prolonged. If we don’t do the maintenance work before the onset of monsoon, our work gets doubled because of frequent power failures. We can’t keep people in the dark, so we make sure that we complete the maintenance work on time to avoid any disruption during the monsoons. We have our teams which dedicatedly resolve any such issue at any given time, even late at night, so that people don’t have to face any shortage. I don’t have any information about the Kalyaninagar power failure, but I will surely ask the officials to look into it and get it resolved.”
