Land found for Koregaon police station

Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band on Wednesday said 20 gunthas of land had been proposed near the pumping station,about 300 metres from German Bakery,for the police station.

The proposal will be forwarded to the state government. Band said “The proposal will be moved today. The sanction might come in a day or might take a year. It is just a proposal and not final sanction.”

The divisional commissioner’s office,municipal commissioner’s office,police commissionerate and district collectorate have been under fire from civic activists who said poor coordination between these delayed the process. The nearest police station,Bund Garden,is 4 kilometres from German Bakery and sensitive places like Chhabad House.

Incidentally,the proposal for a police station for Koregaon Park area had been approved much before the blast,2008,by the state government and even the staff had been sanctioned.

Band said he should not be blamed as the request for land had come to him from Police Commissioner Meeran Borwankar on February 5 when the Chief Minister was in the city. “The next day,I convened a meeting with the police,civic and district collectorate and finalised one of the suggestions,” he said.

Band said there were 11 proposals but the pumping station plot was easily accessible to citizens. Band said if he had been approached earlier,he would ensured availability of land.

The police denied any delay on their part. When contacted,Additional Commissioner of Police Sanjeevkumar Singhal said soon after the state government had okayed the proposal in 2008,the police had written to PMC and the district collectorate seeking land. “After waiting,we recently wrote to the divisional commissioner,” he said.

Mayor Mohan Singh Rajpal blamed “red-tape” in the civic administration. “Considering the sensitivity of the issue,the PMC administration should have gone all out to help the police identify the land. Inefficiency of the civic administration delayed the process,” he said.

District collector Chandrakant Dalvi said,“The police wanted a plot close to German Bakery and Chhabad House. In an area like Koregaon Park,it is difficult to find a convenient plot of land. Finally,we convinced PMC at a recent meeting.”

Civic activist Vijay Kumbhar said,“There are plenty of plots in Koregaon Park,but PMC closed its eyes. I had given a list of plots to officials. Senior officials in Pune are either not serious or lack coordination.”