Kept in abeyance, not abandoned: PMC on ring road project status

Two km of HCMTR are aligned over the proposed Balbharti – Paud Phata Road through Law College Hill. Dr Sushma Date, who is leading the fight to save Vetal Tekdi, with Dr Sumita Kale, had filed a case against the PMC over the issue. She has called HCMTR “one of the three destructive projects proposed on Vetal Tekdi, the other two being Balbharti – Paud Phata Road and the two tunnels”.

On October 29, when the Supreme Court was hearing the case, counsels for the PMC, Abhijit Kulkarni and Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, submitted before the apex court that the HCMTR project, for which an environment clearance was found to be necessary, had been abandoned for the present by the corporation and the Balbharti-Paud Phata project was being implemented “in substitution thereof”. The use of the word “abandoned” sent out a message that the project was being shelved.

“It meant that the HCMTR is not happening at the present moment only; it has not been completely abandoned. HCMTR is a large project and, at present, we are carrying out pre-prepartion work for it, such as land acquisition and planning how to implement the project so that the least number of people will be impacted. Work will continue as the HCMTR is a big project,” said Advocate Nisha Chavan, Chief Legal officer of the PMC. She added that PMC would get the necessary Environment Clearance for the project. “We have never said that we will crack the environment and go ahead,” says Chavan.

Aniruddha Pawaskar, chief engineer (Road), Road Department, said that the HCMTR was being kept in abeyance. “There is no question of abandoning the total project. When we undertake such a big project, we have to plan for everything – the funds, how it is to be planned and how it is to be executed, among others.” He added that since PMC had gone quite ahead with the Balbharti Road, it was their priority.

About the Balbharti – Paud Phata Road, the PMC has said that it has “no objection to carrying out the Environment Impact Assessment and apply for an EC”. The Solicitor General had told the court that “an application for EC was made on Parivesh Portal of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. However, the status of the portal shows that the project does not fall under the category where an EC is required”.

Date said, “As we understand, projects in the DP cannot be ‘abandoned for the present’, especially when the same sentence goes on to say ‘in substitution thereof’ the present project is being implemented’. How long is ‘the present?’ The PMC is, therefore, saying that the Balbharti – Paud Phata Road is being implemented in place of HCMTR. Does this mean the Balbharti – Paud Phata Road will be demolished when the HCMTR is taken up on the same alignment on the tekdi? This doesn’t make sense at all… We expect the PMC to be more responsible when it comes to planning for the city, not push such ad-hoc projects on the tekdi which will destroy so much, much more than we as a city can afford to lose.”