Pawar emphasised on the need for all government agencies to work in coordination to resolve the issues faced by citizens (Express Photo)
DEPUTY CHIEF Minister Ajit Pawar, who visited the Keshavnagar-Mundhwa -Hadapsar area near Pune to inspect the development projects on Sunday, had to face residents’ fury over constant traffic congestion in the area and lack of other civic amenities like adequate water supply, quality roads and proper transport service.
On his part, Ajit Pawar instructed officials to take all necessary steps to fullfill citizens demands and at the same time asked them issue “stop work” notices to builders or contractors found violating the norms.
A woman urged him to adopt the style of former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who used to quietly show up at a spot to check the prevailing traffic situation
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Even as he was issuing instructions to officials about the under-construction Kharadi-Keshavnagar bridge, he had to face a volley of questions from irate residents. They complained about the traffic nightmare as well as water shortage in residential societies in Mundhwa and Keshavnagar.
“We have high hopes from you… Just like how Manohar Parrikar used to survey the traffic situation, you should also see for yourself the chaos on the roads…You should visit the spot without informing the officials,” the woman resident said.
Ajit Pawar said the administration would make all efforts to resolve the issues. The woman then asked “We are faced with the question whether to stay in this area or leave the area.”
Responding to the complaints, Ajit Pawar said, ”This area is facing the problem of jurisdiction between PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) and PMRDA (Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority). The situation becomes complex as there are multiple government agencies controlling the area. PMRDA is give permission to construct building while PMC is providing civic amnenities. In fact, the PMC should get the right to sanction building permission and provide amenities.”
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Pawar emphasised on the need for all government agencies to work in coordination to resolve the issues faced by citizens.
When contacted, Naval Kishore Ram, Municipal Commissioner, Pune, said, ”The deputy chief minister had come to inspect the ongoing works in Mundhwa-Keshavnagar area… Some citizens raised the issues, which are being looked into. As for the delayed bridge work, it will be completed by December. The delay is due to the jurisdiction problem… We are responsible for ensuring civic amenities in all PMC areas. But the building permission is with PMRDA. Discussion is going on regarding handing over the building permission aspect to PMC.”
The PMC chief said the Deputy CM has asked them to issue ”stop work” notices to builders and contractors if they are found violating the norms. “What the Deputy CM meant to say is that if the builders do not adhere to their contract or the promise in the agreement signed with the civic body, then action should be take against them like issuing stop work notices. This will force the earrant ones to take appropriate steps lest they lose their contractors,” Ram said.
The PMC commissioner said that Pune as a whole had urban mobility issues.
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“At some places, there are missing links, in other places, roads are missing, DP roads have not been made…There is a need to take them up in a campaign mode,” he added.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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