Bhatia issues fresh notices

PUNE, MAY 13: Bureaucrat-turned-social activist Avinash Dharmadhikari, who played a leading role in the Bring Back Bhatia' campaign, fin...

PUNE, MAY 13: Bureaucrat-turned-social activist Avinash Dharmadhikari, who played a leading role in the Bring Back Bhatia’ campaign, finds himself in the dock, together with several politicians and businessmen, after he was issued a show-cause notice over an illegal construction by the very man whose cause he had championed so vociferously.

Highly placed sources told The Indian Express on Wednesday that Municipal Commissioner Arun Bhatia has issued notices regarding illegal constructions to several prominent persons, including Dharmadhikari, and business houses. Bhatia, it was learnt, sent a report to Chief Minister Narayan Rane on Wednesday, informing him about the status of illegal constructions by prominent persons in the city.

Former corporator Yogesh Gogavale had shot off a letter to Rane on April 16, complaining that the Municipal Corporation had not taken any action against some influential persons in the city though they had erected illegal structures.

The sources said that Bhatiareceived a letter on May 3 from Bhooshan Gagrani, Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister’s office, asking him to send a status report on the illegal constructions mentioned in Gogavale’s letter. Bhatia then sent the report on the 18 posers raised by Gogavale to the CM’s office. According to the report, Dharmadhikari, who runs the office of Chanakya Mandal on Shastri Road, was found misusing parking space. It was also found that a portion of the front margin had a grill enclosure and the building, instead of being used for residential purposes, was functioning as an office.

The civic authorities have also found a shed on the building’s terrace. Incidentally, Dharmadhikari has also not obtained a completion certificate from the Municipal Corporation. A notice was sent to Dharmadhikari on May 10 under Section 478 of Bombay Province Municipal Corporation (BPMC) Act.

The same day a notice was also sent to Sandeep Khardekar, leader of the Patit Pavan Sanghatana, who too played an active role in the movement forBhatia’s reinstatement. Khardekar has an office in a fibre shed at Narayan Peth near Lokhande Talim.

The report also informs Rane about the illegal structures of prominent politicians, including BJP MLA Girish Bapat, Congress corporators Nitin Jagtap and Vilas Wadekar, former Congress MLA Sharad Ranpise and Congress leader Prakash Mhaske, the owner of Hotel Shantai in Rasta Peth.