By December,every inch of defence land in the city will be surveyed and its records matched. The nationwide survey of defence land undertaken by the Defence Estates Office (DEO) on the directives of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is nearly complete and the report is likely to be submitted to the ministry by the beginning of next year. A nationwide survey of defence land was undertaken in 2011 in the aftermath of defence scams that surfaced in the country in the recent past. According to an official of DEO,Pune Circles survey of defence land in the city is almost complete with exceptions such as 8,000 acres of National Defence Academy (NDA) campus besides land in Ahmednagar and Purandar. The Pune Circle has 58,467 acres of defence land outside the cantonment areas. While the survey of almost 44,000 acres is complete,the remaining 14,000 acres that includes the NDA as the major landmass is under way. According to the official,while 12,000 acres of defence land under the Pune region is held by the Army,INS Shivaji holds 850 acres in Lonavla,while Lohegaon-based Indian Air Force (IAF)- 2 wing occupies 2,178 acres. While DRDO with its four defence laboratories in and around the city occupies about 2,000 acres,training institutions such as College of Military Engineering (CME) and NDA occupy 3,500 and 8,000 acres respectively. Interestingly,DEO,Pune Circle,G S Rajeswaran had last year told this paper that the survey would be carried out with the help of the state revenue department. However,the DEO official said,The revenue department had quoted Rs 3.5 crore for a semi-urgent project,while Rs 5 crore was quoted for an urgent project. The defence ministry,however,refused to allot extra funds and DEO officials,with the help of a private agency,undertook the work at a cost of about Rs 30 lakh. It may be noted that the total cost of the national project,titled Survey,Demarcation and Verification of Defence Land,is pegged at Rs 15.52 crore and the project is expected to be complete by 2014. According to the Director General of Defence Estates (DGDE) website,the project is expected to re-verify and authenticate details of the total defence land,compile information on the disputed land and encroachments,create computerised database for future use and accomplish much-needed capacity building.
