Aurangabad:
The three special squads constituted by Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) have severed 2456 water connections taken illegally from main pipelines storing water in the elevated storage reservoirs (ESRs) during the last eight months.
Every year, there is an acute scarcity of water during summer. The then municipal commissioner Astik Kumar Pandey devised a 42-point programme to overcome the scarcity. It includes disconnecting illegal water connections from the main pipeline transporting water to the ESR. The squad of chief accounts officer Santosh Wahule was active in implementing the drive. The squad started the drive from Begumpura. In the meantime, the issue of water scarcity reached the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court. The High Court also ordered the AMC to take severe and immediate action. Later on, the civic chief Abhijeet Chaudhari constituted two more squads led by the additional commissioner Ravindra Nikam and deputy commissioner Rahul Suryawanshi. These three squads have disconnected 2,456 connections in the last eight months.
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1556 disconnections by one squad
Of the three squads, the first squad has the credit of disconnecting 1556 connections, and the second and third squads severed 500 and 400 connections respectively.
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1125 connections regularised
The AMC after disconnecting the connections appealed to the property-holders to regularise their connections. The AMC was issuing connections from other pipelines distributing water to the wards. It is learnt that 1125 connections have been regularised to date, said the sources.