Resistance broken,22 buildings down

Early in the morning,residents saw 16 JCB machines rolling in and marched to the busy Katraj junction where the blocked the road creating a traffic jam for two hours. Police had to use force and resort to a mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd.

The demolition squad started its work at 7.30 am and continued till evening. The action came on the orders of divisional commissioner Dilip Band and district collector Vikas Deshmukh. Band said they carried out the drive as per a government order. “We had conducted a meeting late on Wednesday night and decided to go ahead with the order. The action is on. We have to carry out the anti-encroachment drive,’’ Band told Newsline after issuing the instructions.

The officials said the residents had been served notice almost two months ago. According to the notice,they had to pull down the constructions and there was no move from the government to rehabilitate them as per the Land Revenue Code section 45 (2).

“The first day of the drive was against unoccupied buildings. The rest of the drive will be carried out as per further orders,’’ said SDO Jayashree Katare who initiated the action from the district collectorate.

Protestors led by social activist Prakash Kadam said the residents had been pleading with the government to allow a minimal percentage of construction to prevent slums from coming up on the hill slope. “They have been repeatedly appealing right up to the CM level. There has been no clearance yet. Some builders,meanwhile, encroached the land,got permission from the gram panchayat and sold the land illegally to these residents,’’ says Kadam.

A resident,Archana Govardhan Ohol,saw a huge unoccupied building being pulled down and said,“We are next. Where will we go?” Her friend and another resident,Suvarna Kamble,adds they had already completed paying installments for the houses.

With most of staff from the district collectorate on MHT-CET duty,125 people from the Pune Municipal Corporation,both officials and labourers,were roped in for the drive. Police help was taken to carry out the drive. The drive was led by SDO Jayashree Katare,tehsildar Haveli Sandesh Shirke,tehsildar Pune city Y Kharmate and Naib tehsildar SR Parab and Manisha Kulkarni.