Collectorate’s new Look

Executive engineer of PWD Vilas Dange said that the construction will be carried out in a phased manner. “All the buildings in the campus will be demolished and constructed anew,” said Dange. The PWD has invited tenders for construction activities on Wednesday.

With the blueprint ready for the same,Dange said that they are in talks with the heritage committee. “The current SDO building comes under heritage building category and is as old as 1880. We would have the new construction trying to keep this structure intact,” he said.

The layout has three buildings of three stories and four stories. The PWD department will also keep in mind the recommendations of the heritage committee. “Stone cladding and rounded dome structures are part of the plan,” said Dange.

Meanwhile,the divisional Commissionerate building also will be undergoing a revamp. Executive engineer PWD,Pune division J D Kulkarni said that it is a Rs 7.18 crore project and a building would be constructed in the same campus near the old building. “We want to make it an environment-friendly building. We should be able to finalise it in two months time,” he said. The government has sanctioned Rs 152 lakh for the same in the budget.

The new constructions were sanctioned by District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar at a meeting in February. The British era heritage building of the district collectorate as well its other extensions will be brought down to pave way for new “corporate look” but the historic council hall building will be spared.

The revamping of the collectorate was mooted,as the existing office space cannot accommodate the growing staff and the visitor’s strength at the collectorate and divisional Commissionerate.

The main building at the collectorate was constructed in 1880. It housed the office of the first district collector of Pune S G Barve,after 1947 and over the years several new extensions were added in the six acres.

The new building complex will have the main collector office,other offices,an underground and multi-level parking lot and a conference hall. There will also be a special open plot for rallies converging on the collectorate.