E-Paper
Five development plans to cover Pune city
Pune could be the first city in Maharashtra to have five development plans (DP) for different areas.
PUNE: Pune could be the first city in Maharashtra to have five development plans (DP) for different areas. Experts fear that different rules for different areas may lead to confusion and haphazard urban growth.
With the latest state government notification expanding the city limits, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is preparing a development plan for the newly merged 23 villages and the count of DP covering the city has touched five.
Pune city has DP for old city limits, 23 villages which have bio diversity park (BDP) provision, Yeolewadi, 11 villages merged in 2017 and the latest for newly added 23 villages.
A development plan is a long-term planning document that gives a conceptual layout for proposed future growth and development. It covers buildings, social settings and surrounding environments. The plan includes analysis, recommendations, and proposals for a site’s population, economy, housing, transportation, community facilities, and land use. The plan could be renewed every 20 years.
Three DPs are already in place — for old city limits, 23 villages and Yeolewadi. The DP for 11 villages is in the pipeline and the municipal corporation has called a general body meeting on July 15 to start the process for newly merged 23 villages.
Town planner Ramchandra Gohad said, “The government and municipal corporation’s policy for merging and demerging villages is responsible for this situation. In 2070, we suggested planning for fringe areas that were not part of the municipal corporation. Later, in the nineties, we suggested to merge 53 villages in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations with 38 villages in PMC and 15 in PCMC. Again, it was not accepted. The delay led to haphazard development in these fringe areas and now these villages have become part of the municipal corporation.”
Gohad said, “At least now steps should be taken to carry out integrated planning for the whole area. The PMC area has become vast and there are challenges for providing municipal services like water, garbage management.”
Urban planner Anita Benninger said, “Along with the various development plans, there are some other agencies like Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Collector, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) involved in the planning. They had given some permission. We need to review the limits and their jurisdiction for doing an integrated planning.”
Oppn decry BJP’s call for GB meet
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to call a general body (GB) meeting on July 15 to chalk out DP process for the newly merged 23 villages. Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) that covered these villages has prepared a DP for these areas. Recently, municipal commissioner announced that to save time, PMC will adopt the DP from PMRDA and invite suggestions and objections.
However, the BJP opposed the move stating that as these villages became a part of the municipal corporation, PMC has the right to prepare DP. Mayor Murlidhar Mohol and leader of House Ganesh Bidkar took this stand.
Criticising the BJP’s stand, NCP city unit president Prashant Jagtap said, “PMC has been preparing a DP for 11 villages for the last three years. PMRDA had prepared the DP when it was ruled by the BJP and now they question that same DP.”
Congress leader Aba Bagul blamed the BJP for calling a general body meeting without discussing it with the opposition parties. “PMC can adopt the DP from PMRDA and carry the future process,” Bagul said.
Five DP
DP for old city limits
DP for merged 23 villages which have BDP provision
DP for Yeolewadi
DP for merged 11 villages which got merged in 2017
DP for merged 23 villages which got merged in June 2021
