Civic body not acting against nullah blockers,say activists

Activist Vivek Velankar observed a hungerstrike to draw the attention of the civic administration to the increasing problem of illegal structures,particularly on nullahs.

The fallout was witnessed last Wednesday in Kothrud,NDA area and Bavdhan where flooding was caused by overflowing nullahs,highlighting the need of removing encroachments on drains across the city,activists said.

“Encroachment along water bodies like nullahs are all the more grave as they lead to floodlike situations creating serious problems like the one happened three days back. Top civic officials just send notices immediately after such incidents and few days later,everything is forgotten,” said Velankar.

“Last month,we submitted a list of about 30 illegal structures standing in different parts of the city. However,the administration has not taken any action,” he said.

The PMC,on the other hand,says the process to identify illegal structures has begun and soon action would be initiated against them.

The civic administration has decided to hold meetings to initiate action against unauthorised structures. Additional Municipal Commissioner M S Devnikar said,“We have started conducting meetings. All structures in the city in and around water bodies have been constructed keeping in mind the limited amount of rain in the city.” He added,“Soon,we will divide the city into segments,identify problems in each block and then come up with corrective measures.”

PMC officer on special duty (encroachments) Ramesh Shelar said,“We have to clear encroachments on a major scale for which a comprehensive policy is needed.”