On Monday, the Divisional Commissioner had directed Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioners and the PMRDA not to allow construction activities unless the builders identify the sources of water that they intend to provide to the occupants. (File)
Following directives from Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has put as many as 200 under-construction projects of different builders under scanner. These projects are located in the Maval, Mulshi and Haveli talukas of Pune district where construction activities are booming.
On Monday, the Divisional Commissioner had directed Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioners and the PMRDA not to allow construction activities unless the builders identify the sources of water that they intend to provide to the occupants.
Rao took action following a concern raised by Baramati MP Supriya Sule that construction activities are being allowed in Pune despite the fact that the builders have not made any arrangement to ensure adequate supply of drinking water to the residents.
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Swinging into action, the PMRDA, which has over 800 villages, two municipal corporations, seven municipal councils and the three cantonment boards under its jurisdiction, has decided to closely inspect the building projects that it has sanctioned.
Speaking to The Indian Express, PMRDA CEO Rahul Mahiwal said, “We are closely monitoring 200 projects where construction activities were underway in December and January this year. We are checking if builders have made arrangements to ensure water supply to those who will occupy the flats. We will not issue completion certificates to builders who have not made arrangements for drinking water supply.”
There is a tendency, said Mahiwal, among builders to complete a project and walk away without making provisions for water supply. “We will not issue completion certificates to such builders who do not make necessary arrangements for water supply,” he said.
The PMRDA administration said it is not focussing much on rural areas but is taking action primarily in urban areas and that too in the Maval, Mulshi and Haveli talukas.
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“In our jurisdiction, there are hundreds of projects coming up. In rural areas, the gram panchayat is looking after the water supply. This issue is not serious in the rural areas. Even otherwise, we are not looking at smaller projects and are focussing on bigger projects to find if the builders are ensuring water supply as per the laid-down norms.”
Mahiwal said a mere undertaking that water will be provided to occupants won’t suffice. “When the builders will come to us seeking completion certificates, we will send our team to check the source of water and ascertain if they will be able to take care of the water requirement of the residents as per the norms. Only then the completion certificates will be issued to them,” he said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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