Encroachments by furniture shops on Satara road demolished

The illegal construction was done on the backside of the shops over the Ambil Odha retaining wall which was causing risk to the steady flow of water

The anti-encroachment department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) took action against encroachments by the furniture shops on Satara road at Padmavati. The illegal construction was done on the backside of the shops over the Ambil Odha retaining wall which was causing risk to the steady flow of water. A team of PMC workers started the anti-encroachment drive in the morning at 10am and continued till afternoon.

A team of PMC workers started the anti-encroachment drive in the morning at 10am and continued till afternoon. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

There are at least 40 furniture shops in Padmavati near the starting point of Shankar Maharaj flyover bridge on the Satara road. It is known as the Gururaj Society furniture shops line and the shops have been there for the last 35 years.

“The action against encroachments at the furniture shops was the part of our regular anti-encroachment drive. From last few days this drive is going on and it will continue for the next few days. There was illegal construction done by the shop owners behind the shops over the Ambil Odha which was demolished by our department workers,” said Madhav Jagtap, PMC’s anti-encroachment squad chief.

All the shops had increased their shop from behind approximately four feet in width over the Ambil Odha. Furniture materials and other things were kept inside these parts of the shops, also a retaining wall has been built beneath these encroachment areas.

“We have been doing business at this place since the last 35 years and there has been full cooperation from all the shop owners to PMC. One year ago, we received a notice from the PMC about encroachments, after which we organised subsequent meetings with their officials. On Tuesday morning suddenly their team came and started demolishing the back-end of our shops. We requested them to give us time till February 11 so that we could shift our material and other things, but they didn’t listen to us,” said Tanaji Dadhe, one of the shopowners.