Baramati MP Supriya Sule kept out of loop as CM Devendra Fadnavis set to hold urgent meeting on Hinjewadi crisis today

Fadnavis has called the meeting of Pune officials and stakeholders at 2 pm in Vidhan Bhavan following public uproar. Residents of Hinjewadi have also started an online campaign seeking merger of the IT hub with PCMC.

BJP MLAs Mahesh Landge and Shankar Jagtap will attend the meeting. Both have claimed that the chief minister called the meeting at their insistence.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Tapase, spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), said the current government has often insulted MPs and MLAs of Opposition parties. “When issues of public interest come and especially when the issues related to a constituency are represented by an MLA or MP, it is the duty of the government to invite them for any such meeting,” he said.

“The government cannot take unilateral decisions without consulting local representatives. This is against the principles of our Constitution. But this government has the habit of bypassing the Constitution. We strongly condemn the government attitude,” he added.

Heavy rain in recent days led to waterlogging in several key roads across the Hinjewadi area, resulting in huge traffic snarls. This irked IT professionals and residents who have launched a campaign to get their problems redressed by the state government.

Following the mega power outage, Sule had on Monday urged Fadnavis to appoint a nodal officer to resolve civic issues until an independent authority is appointed for the area. Power was gradually restored to urban low-voltage areas by 4 am on Monday, but rotational cuts continued.

Thursday’s meeting will be attended by deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, the commissioners of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune municipal corporations and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), officials of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and representatives of industries in Hinjewadi, among others.

Hinjewadi is just outside the jurisdiction of the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations. The Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park in Hinjewadi is under the control of the MIDC, while the residential area is governed by the PMRDA. This means that residents are often compelled to follow up on grievances with multiple agencies, resulting in considerable loss of time and mental distress, Sule had told Fadnavis in a letter earlier.