‘Planning Sabarmati-like rehabilitation for low-lying slum areas of Pimpri-Chinchwad’

In an interview with the Indian Express, Anna Bansode talks about his plans for Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Anna Bansode

Anna Bansode, NCP MLA from Pimpri reserved seat, stood in support of Ajit Pawar when he became the deputy chief minister of the state for 80 hours alongside Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister. His name is now being discussed for a ministerial berth in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. In an interview with the Indian Express, the MLA talks about his plans for Pimpri-Chinchwad. Excerpts from the interview:

There are reports about your name being discussed for a ministerial berth in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Are they accurate?

I don’t think so. I don’t know about this.

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Since you supported Ajit Pawar, it is being speculated that he is trying to get you a ministerial berth.

That’s not true. Nobody has discussed anything with me, so I don’t think I have a chance to make it to the ministry.

Will PCMC (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation) employees get salaries as per the Seventh Pay Commission?

The state government has made a decision in this regard. I announced it earlier this week. The PCMC will be the first civic body to implement the decision. It will benefit 8,500 employees, who will get salaries as per the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission with retrospective effect.

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Despite dams being full beyond their capacity, Pimpri-Chinchwad is suffering from water shortage. You have not spoken against the PCMC or the BJP. Why have you been silent?

We have decided to hold a meeting with the civic administration next week. I, Ajit Pawar, and some other leaders will hold a meeting with the municipal commissioner.

Residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad are complaining against the lack of response from the civic administration.

When the NCP ruled Pimpri Chinchwad for 15 years, we implemented several big projects. But in the last three years, the BJP-ruled PCMC administration has not implemented a single big project but is only completing projects that we started. It made huge promises during the elections, but failed to keep them. Be it traffic or condition of roads, the administration has failed to act decisively and that is why residents of Pimpri Chinchwad are upset and
disappointed.

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The NCP has been demanding waiver of penalty tax. Is it going to happen?

Let the Cabinet expansion take place. I am pursuing the issue with the state government. I am sure it will happen when things settle down.

This is your second term as MLA. What are your plans for Pimpri-Chinchwad?

On top of my agenda is the Sabarmati-type rehabilitation and resettlement plan for those living in low-lying areas of Pimpri Chinchwad. The project involved resettling over 10,000 households living in slums along the banks of the Sabarmati river. I intend to implement a similar plan in Pimpri Chinchwad.

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There are two other MLAs in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Both belong to the BJP. Are you three going to work together?

I am from the NCP and they are from the BJP. Our parties are different and so are our plans.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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