500 illegal structures to be razed in Pimpri-Chinchwad,say authorities

In the last civic general body meeting held earlier this month,the civic chief had said his administration would not raze illegal constructions that came up before March 31,2012. “The state government is yet to decide whether these constructions should be regularised or not as done in Ulhasnagar. Till a final decision is taken,we will not take action,” he said.

Last month,officials of PCMC anti-encroachment departments in divisions B and D had demolished at least 15 buildings,primarily residential ones.

Executive engineer G M Dangat (D division) said,”These buildings had come up without PCMC’s permission. Also,they were located barely within a few steps of the river bed,violating the blueline norm.” Six buildings were demolished under heavy police presence in Kalewadi and Rahatni. He said they have sent notices to as many as 38 building owners.

“Either they should raze the buildings themselves or we will pull them down. Since the construction of these buildings is still going on,we will demolish them without considering whether it is raining or not,” he said. Demolition is not carried out during rain.

Executive engineer Makrand Nikam (B division) said they have demolished seven buildings in Keshavnagar and would soon demolish 100 more in Pimpri,Chinchwad,Walhekarwadi and Ravet. Collectively,over 138 buildings in the two divisions are on the list. PCNTDA officials said the unauthorised structures include those that have extended their buildings without permissions and those that have come up on land reserved for civic amenities.

PCNTDA chief Yogesh Mhase said they would resume the demolition drive from July 23. “We have demolished 400 illegal structures and will cover 400 more. The exact figure of illegal structures is being collated,” he said. The figure of 800 illegal constructions being demolished could be the highest in Pune in a span of less than a year,said PCNTDA officials.

Former corporator Maruti Bhapkar said the drive in PCNTDA is the first of its kind in the history of Pradhikaran. “The current CEO has to clean the mess created by his predecessors. The way illegal constructions have mushroomed in Pradhikaran shows how previous officials were negligent. We should bring these officials to book,” he said.