Pune: PCMC gets major portion of land and encroachments after merger, PMRDA gets deposits and staff

As per the notification, the PCMC will get all leased land, all land reserved for public purposes and all encroached land. The ruling BJP in Pimpri-Chinchwad has opposed the move to transfer undeveloped reserved land to PCMC.

On the other hand, the PMRDA will get PCNTDA’s office, commercial complex, residential complex, fixed deposits and other investments. The PCMC will remain the special planning authority of all PCNTDA areas. “This means building construction permission and powers for approving TDR-FSI will rest with PCMC,” officials said.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Gawli said, “Of the 1,875 hectare of land with PCNTDA, the PCMC will get at least 1,300 hectares of land while PMRDA will get around 375 hectares. This is our initial estimate. The entire process of distribution of land will take around 5-6 months.”

Gawli said all the land in the Pradhikaran area had been leased out to the public. “The leased land is around 1,000 hectares which will go to PCMC. Besides, there is 240-hectare land where encroachments have come up. These encroachments will now be on PCMC’s lookout. And there is land reserved for public purposes. It will go to PCMC. In fact, vast areas of developed land are already with PCMC,” he said.

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Gawli said all PCNTDA employees will be transferred to PMRDA. “We have permanent staff strength of around 50. And around 100 temporary as well as on deputation staff. The permanent staff will be transferred to PMRDA. As for the rest, the PMRDA will take the call,” he said.

“We don’t have any loan. But the liabilities like bill payment to contractors will be taken over by PMRDA. The total deposits of Rs 150 crore will go to PMRDA,” he said.

While PCMC will be the special planning authority in many sectors of the Pradhikaran area, PMRDA will get only a small amount of land to look after. “PMRDA will have jurisdiction over only four sectors. This means the building permission, TDR and FSI will be decided by PMRDA in these four sectors. On the other hand, PCMC will have jurisdiction or will be the planning authority in the remaining 38 sectors. Similarly, PCMC will have jurisdiction over three sub-district centres or commercial centres while PMRDA will look after a solitary centre,” Gawli said.

The BJP, however, is not happy with the decision to transfer land reserved for public purposes to PCMC. “They should develop the land and then transfer it to PCMC. Otherwise, for developing the land, PCMC will have to spend a lot of money on providing water, drainage, electricity and other amenities,” said BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap.

BJP state secretary Amit Gorkhe said, “Pradhikaran was set up for providing affordable housing for the working class. Several acres of land was taken from farmers. This developed land will now go to the PMRDA area. This is an injustice to the farmers.”

Gorkhe said the state government did not even take the public representatives into confidence on the merger. “This is a unilateral decision. We are against it,” he said.

Jagtap said the state government has not yet announced what it proposes to do with the land of hundreds of farmers acquired by PCNTDA. “For decades, they have been awaiting compensation,” he said.

Reacting to this, Gawli said, “As per the notification, the compensation in terms of 12.5 per cent development to farmers will have to be decided by the authority in which their land exists. For instance, if the land is in the possession of PCMC, then it will have to give compensation to the farmer.”