The Bombay High Court has directed the Pune Municipal Corporation to acquire land required to complete the Baner-Pashan link road and submit a timeline both for the land acquisition and the construction of the remaining 200m stretch. A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S Doctor gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by the Baner-Pashan Link Road Welfare Trust. The next hearing is scheduled for September 20. The link road, which has been incomplete for 30 years, is crucial for connectivity between Baner, Balewadi and Pashan and affects over 2,50,000 residents of the area, said the petitioner, adding that the road was sanctioned in a 1992 development plan. The link road is 1,200 m long and 36 m wide, and 1 km of it was constructed in 2014. But two patches, of 150 m and 50 m, remain yet to be constructed. The bench said that a request for completing the road construction was made to the municipal commissioner in April 2022 and that a decision ought to have been taken by the commissioner by now. “In the facts of the present case, to leave the road with unconstructed stretch of 200 metres will not be in public interest and accordingly, in any condition, construction of the road needs to be completed. For the said purpose, if the private negotiation with the land owners has failed, the only course open to the Municipal Corporation is to initiate the process of compulsory acquisition under the concerned legislation,” it said. In response to the petition, the corporation cited lack of funds, the land owners’ non-cooperation and absence of an elected general body as reasons for the delay. Advocate Satya Muley, on behalf of the petitioner, stated that acquisition expenses would only increase with more delay. He also said the landowners had expressed readiness to give with the land but, according to them,had not been contacted by the corporation in the past seven years. V G Kulkarni, in charge of road department in the corporation, said the acquisition process was already underway. “We are yet to get the court order on the Baner-Pashan link road.The landowners are seeking compensation of Rs 56 crore, so the PMC will decide on it soon,” he added. An officer from the civic land acquisition department said the landowners were asking for huge compensation. “The compensation is a big amount and the PMC cannot spend the amount for one project. The PMC is ready to give transfer of development rights for the land, but the owners are not in favour of it. The matter is under discussion and a solution will evolve soon,” the officer said. According to Rajendra Chuttar, president of the petitioner trust, the existing narrow roads are unsafe, especially for children and senior citizens, owing to heavy traffic and congestion. “There is no public bus transport in our area, because of the incomplete road. Essential services such as water supply, electricity and drainage have not been planned properly for the same reason,” he said.
