Wanowrie land: Harshvardhan group seeks stay order

With the group already having put up fences on the land,the order of the revenue minister clearly states the “watandars are entitled to put compound walls on the said land and they can also seek police protection for the same.’’ This order was passed on July 22 by the revenue minister which has been challenged by the Harshvardhan group in the High Court.

The group had also sought a stay order on the notices issued by the Pune Municipal Corporation for the development of the land. The PMC had issued notices under Section 260 (1) of the BPMC Act and under Section 53 (1) of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act,1966. Since no permission was taken,the PMC wanted the group to remove the fences and boards put up on the plot. The group has also printed a brochure of a commercial-cum-residential project with a mark-up of Rs 5,000 crore planned on the land.

The issue had come to the fore when the residents complained that the land — sector 64 currently used for exercise and community interactions—- was usurped by the builders. The citizens of the area were up in arms against the company who put up boards and fences and even posted security guards.

On July 8,2008,the departments of revenue and forest had passed a stay order against the sale of this watan land (survey No 64),which in effect renders null and void the sale of the land in presence of collector and the watandars on June 17 last year. But now it is being claimed by a section of the watandars that only two out of the seven signatories were present on June 17.

A Mahar Watan land is granted to people by the government and cannot be sold without the permission of the divisional commissioner/district collector. The prime land has a current valuation of nearly Rs 350 crore. The state government had taken over the land from the watandars in 1957. In 1995,former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh took up the issue of regranting of land. In 2002,then revenue minister Ramraje Nimbalkar allotted four acres to the SRPF from the 48 acres which were regranted to the watandars.

The builder has put up fences and has issued a public notice that the land was going to be used only for “agriculture purpose.’ However,the group had already printed brochures with plans to develop the area under the name Eledora,with shopping malls,multiplex,restaurants,corporate park and a star hotel with exclusive apartment units. Members of the NIBM citizen forum had written to the Chief Minister to intervene in this issue.