Pre-monsoon showers expose PMC's slow pace

Although Pune's average annual rainfall is around 722 mm, climate change and rapid urbanisation have pushed this figure to nearly 1,000 mm in recent years

- Siddharth Gadkari

PUNE: Even before the monsoon has officially arrived, heavy pre-monsoon showers have lashed Pune, once again exposing the city's lack of preparedness.

Despite repeated flooding incidents in recent years, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has made minimal progress on critical flood prevention work at several longstanding waterlogging hotspots.

In the first phase of its flood mitigation efforts, the PMC identified 31 vulnerable locations across the city for intervention.

However, only three of these projects have been completed so far, while work has not even started at 12 sites.

In Yerwada, the PMC has also been unable to begin any work due to the ongoing construction of the Yerwada Metro station at the same site.