Times of India: Pune: Wednesday, 17 December 2014.
The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)
may have to demolish at least 26,000 illegal constructions in its limits, while
the Pimpri Chinchwad New Township Development Authority (PCNTDA) may have to
pull down another 3,480 illegal constructions on development plan roads and
reservations, as the state government is not inclined to regularise such
constructions.
State revenue minister Eknath Khadse said in the
legislature on Monday that illegal constructions on land reserved for civic
amenities should be demolished.
Three years ago, a Right to Information (RTI)
application filed by local resident Sarang Kamthekar and Shiv Sena corporator
Seema Savale had revealed that there were around 26,711 illegal constructions
on 269 plots reserved in the old development plan of 1995.
The PCNTDA had sent a proposal to the state
government in December 2011, seeking to regularise 15,029 unauthorised
constructions in Chikhli, Nigdi, Thergaon, Rahatni, Bhosari, Wakad and
Chinchwad. Of these, 3,480 structures cannot be regularised as 1,505 are
located on reserved plots and 1,975 are on development plan roads. The state
government had rejected the proposal in 2012 and now in view of Khadse's
statement, these constructions may be demolished.
Speaking to TOI, Shirish Poredi from the civic
engineering department said, "We have information about the number of
unauthorised constructions in the city, but no specific data about the number
of illegal constructions on development plan roads and reservations. We have been
sending notices since June to owners of the illegal structures on development
plan reservations."
Reacting to Khadse's statement, PCNTDA chief
executive officer Suresh Jadhav said, "We conducted a survey of
unauthorised constructions in 2008, but it had to be abandoned halfway due to
public opposition. We will wait for instructions from the state government
regarding the action to be taken in the matter."
He said that if the government refuses to
regularise these constructions, a new survey will have to be undertaken to
demarcate the development plan roads and reservations and to identify the
number of such structures.
Manav Kamble, president of the Nagari Hakka
Suraksha Samiti, said, "More than one lakh people will be displaced if
these illegal buildings are demolished. The state government must try to change
some reservations to minimise the number of people that will be
displaced."