The ruling NCP-Congress alliance in the Pune Municipal Corporation along with the BJP on Thursday approved a civic administration proposal to convert a 938-acre agricultural land in Mundhwa into a residential zone despite a growing concern over the depleting green cover of the city. The suggestion to convert certain areas of Lohegaon,Sangamwadi and Pashan into residential zone was approved by the general body. The Shiv Sena and Independent corporator Ujjwal Keskar voted against the proposal while the MNS stayed away from voting. The proposal was pending in the general body for long as there was no consensus among political parties. It came up for discussion on Thursday and was passed by a majority vote. The civic body would now seek suggestions and objections on the proposal before sending it to the state government for the final approval. The City Improvement Committee had,in December last year,given its approval to the proposal,wherein all its members had approved it. The civic administration had sought this agricultural land on the pretext that there was a land crunch in the city. Mundhwa land was left out in 1996,when agricultural land in villages was merged into the civic limits. Earlier,some corporators had taken a strong objection to the proposal,saying that the agricultural land would be used for raising a concrete jungle. BJP corporator Anil Shirole sought clarification on the reason for making the land available for residential purposes and demanded that the proposal be shelved. Sena leader Shyam Deshpande said the state government was yet to approve the development plan of the 23 villages and there was no need of changing the reservation before that. The proposal is in the interest of certain people and involves monetary benefits, he said,adding that there was no reservation on the land owned by builders while the public use reservation was there on land owned by farmers. NCP corporator Sunil Bankar and Chetan Tupe also raised queries over the proposal,saying it was against the interest of farmers. Proposing the conversion of agricultural land of Pashan,Sangamwadi and Lohegain for residential purposes,NCP leader Bapu Pathare said the residential use of the land should be through proper planning. I am saddened by the decision. They should have thought about the future generation. A large chunk of green cover would be lost and it will have an adverse impact on the environment, said Satish Khot of National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC).
