For felling trees, PMC to provide cash compensation to Pune land owners

In the last few years, increasing vehicular congestion has turned Chandni Chowk into a traffic bottleneck. While the foundation stone for the multi-storey flyover — a project aimed at easing traffic congestion — was laid a year ago, the project is yet to take off as the PMC has not acquired the land required for it.

The civic body has now set up a dedicated cell to speed up the acquisition process, but continues to face opposition from some land owners. It has started accepting the claims of the other land owners, who have agreed to receive compensation through multiple avenues, such as FSI, TDR and cash compensation. The civic administration said the cash compensation would be paid in installments.

“The valuation of the land, where owners are demanding cash compensation, has been conducted. The cash compensation also includes compensation for felling the trees located on the land. The valuation of trees is being done through the Agriculture Department and the Forest Department,” stated the PMC proposal on the issue.

It clarified that no compensation would be given for illegal constructions on the acquired land. As much as 13.20 hectare of the 30.68-hectare land required for the project is already in possession of the NHAI, while the PMC has acquired 6.88 hectare of land so far.