PUNE, Aug 2: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde today said that long-pending problems of the Army authorities with the State administration would be sorted out at the earliest.Munde and senior bureaucrats had a meeting with Lt Gen H M Khanna, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command. He told media persons later that the State Government had agreed in principle to cut down the power tariff to various Army establishments in Pune. He, however, refused to divulge the new tariff rate fixed for the Defence establishments in view of the ongoing monsoon session of the State Assembly.Munde said that steps had been initiated to solve the long-delayed issue of return of over 400 hectares of defence land which had been transferred to the State in 1962 under an agreement. According to the agreement Maharashtra was to provide an alternate land to the army authorities.Ahire village for NDADeputy CM Gopinath Munde said, steps were being taken to resolve the issue of handing overof Ahire village to the National Defence Academy as per the agreement reached between the State and the Defence authorities during the Academy's establishment in 1952. The village land, sought by NDA for creating a firing range, is yet to be transferred. While Defence authorities transferred 20 acres of its land in the bargain for rehabilitation of affected villagers and also paid monetary compensations to them, the local are yet to moved out, Munde said.
