‘Pavana river turns into nullah’

The Pimpri-Chinchwad City (District) Congress Committee has objected to the construction of the Nashik Phata flyover,which,it alleged,has blocked the course of Pavana river. “The river has turned into a nullah for a long stretch. This is illegal and a violation of environmental laws,” said advocate Sushil Mancharkar,president of the committee in a letter to Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma. The World Bank-aided Rs 100-crore flyover is being constructed at Nashik Phata chowk. It is said to be a first-of-its-kind flyover in the state which runs over road,river and rail. Mancharkar said the contractor,who is building the flyover,has blocked the course of river. “He has placed four pillars right in the river. Owing to this,the river has lost its identity. It looks like anything but a river. One look at it and you are convinced that it is not a river but a long nullah flowing down from Pimpri and heading towards Pune area,” he said. The Pavana river,pointed out Mancharkar,is already polluted as illegal construction,slums and dumbing of debris have eaten into the river space. “To protect the river,instead of putting the pillar right in the river,they could have put them outside the river. But that hasn’t been done. The result is that course of the river has been affected. Also,the debirs have also been dumped in the river. Because of the flyover work,” the committee said.