DNA: Pune: Monday, June 25, 2012.
Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) claims that it doesn’t have enough land to house people from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), it has now been revealed that it allowed to take over one lakh square meters of land by Sanjay Kakade, one of the influential builders in city.
The land in question is the residential complex of Kakade city in Hingne and file inspection under section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, brought it to light that the commencement certificate for the project was issued by the PMC even before the state government had removed the EWS reservation.
According to documents maintained by the PMC, (copies of which were obtained by DNA under RTI) portions of the original 18 hectares land was under reservation for construction of housing for the EWS. However, the said reservation was removed on June 26, 2003 while the commencement certificate for the project was sanctioned on March 6, 2003.
Commenting on the issue, Kakade said that the process of removal of reservation was undertaken by the government way back in 1970s and it culminated in 2003. He also denied having any role in the removal of the reservation.
The land, located at Hingne and valued at over Rs230 crore, was originally meant for the rehabilitation of over 350 families whose land was acquired for the expansion of National Defence Academy in the 1950s. Post the acquisition of the land, Kakade, who is known to be close to the ruling alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party leaders in Pune, entered into a development agreement with the families. The families gave Kakade the power of attorney for the development of the plot in lieu of their rehabilitation.
Commencement certificate is the green signal given by the PMC for building projects after scrutinising the relevant documents for the same. City-based activist-cum-builder Ravindra Barate said, “PMC should have sanctioned only housing meant for the EWS on land under such reservation.” Under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MR&TP) Act, 1966, the state government removes the reservation only after the city improvement committee and the general body of the civic body them to do so. “In this case, the builder and the civic body seem to have anticipated the move by the state government,” Barate said. Refuting the above allegations, Kakade said that the process of allotment of the land to the project affected people (PAP) was initiated by the state government long back.
“Because the land was meant for the PAP, the government on its own had started the work of removal of the reservation of EWS. In 1970s, the government had made the plots on the land. We got involved in the process only in 2002. We have nothing to do with the removal of the reservations,” he said. This is even more concerning because it means the commencement certificate for the project was sanctioned within a year of Kakade’s involvement in the process.
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