A rural water crisis could become an urban challenge as migration, pressure on housing and demand for water converge on an already crowded Pune. Pune: As more than half the state faces drought conditions, Pune is turning into a principal destination for people leaving villages across Maharashtra search of work and a more secure livelihood. While the city has absorbed such waves before, the difference this time is that Pune is already struggling under the weight of its own success. Dramatic Expansion The Pune of today bears little resemblance to the city that existed four decades ago. The metropolitan region has expanded so dramatically that the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority was created to manage the twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad along with their rapidly urbanising hinterland. Growth began gathering pace around 1985 and became exponential after 2000. Education, employment and the city’s reputation as a centre for competitive-examination preparation have turned Pune into a magnet for young people from across Maharashtra. But the city’s attraction becomes particularly powerful during a drought. The precedent is the drought of 1972, when large numbers of people from rural Maharashtra arrived in Pune. They settled in places such as Dandekar Bridge, Parvati and Yerwada, often in informal settlements that eventually became established parts of the city. Some of those migrants subsequently entered municipal and state politics, becoming corporators and even MLAs. Their journey illustrates an enduring feature of migration: what begins as an emergency response to rural distress can permanently alter the social and political geography of a city. Pune offered water, open spaces and the prospect of earning a living. Between 1972 and 1974, the municipal corporation and other government agencies were forced to create infrastructure and services to accommodate the influx, at considerable cost. Second Migration The coming migration may be different in composition but no less consequential. An estimated 200,000 to 250,000 students from rural Maharashtra are already living in Pune to prepare for competitive examinations or pursue careers. A large proportion come from farming and agriculture-dependent families. Their rents, food and other expenses are often financed by money sent from their villages. If drought cuts farm incomes, the consequences will travel with the students to Pune. Their ability to pay rent and sustain themselves will weaken precisely when opportunities for low-skilled employment in the city remain limited and wages are often modest. That could create a new kind of urban distress in form of a financially vulnerable population already embedded in the city. Pune also has less room to absorb another large migration than it did in 1972. Its central areas and suburbs are heavily congested, while housing costs have risen sharply. New arrivals are therefore likely to push further beyond the existing urban fringe. That would turn migration into an infrastructure problem: water supply, sanitation, transport, housing and other basic services would have to follow people into areas that are still being urbanised. Water may prove the most immediate pressure point. The state has experienced below-normal rainfall, with the deficit reportedly exceeding 17 percent of the norm in some assessments. Western Maharashtra received substantial rain in July, allowing Pune’s principal reservoirs - Bhama-Askhed, Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar - to reach full capacity. But weaker rainfall around Pune in September has renewed concern among water-resource officials and meteorological experts. Rising temperatures could increase evaporation and household consumption, narrowing the margin available to the city. Pune’s water managers may therefore have to think beyond reservoir levels and prepare for demand created by migration. A rural water crisis, if poorly managed, can become an urban governance crisis.
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