E-Paper
New roads to come up on forest reserve land in Maval
The road will be connected to the Other District Road (ODR)-69 with Kusgaon Budruk near village Gevhandi (Apti) in Maval tehsil
The Forest Department granted an ‘in-principle’ approval for the diversion of over two acres of reserve and private forest category land in Maval tehsil for new road construction. The road will be connected to the Other District Road (ODR)-69 with Kusgaon Budruk near village Gevhandi (Apti) in Maval tehsil. The request was made by the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP), and approval was granted subject to compensatory afforestation and the submission of the net present value.
The approval was given under section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 for the construction of a road joining Pavana Valley villages to Kusgaon Budruk so that locals can have the quickest access to the market, medical facility, and schools in Kusgaon. It will also assist adjacent areas in connecting with tehsil places in Vadgaon Maval.
The executive engineer of ZP’s B&C’s north division submitted the proposal. They have asked for permission to divert 0.96 hectares of reserve and private forest property for the construction of the road. Following an exhaustive review, the Forest Department agreed to divert 0.945 hectares (2.335 acres) of forest land. On Monday, August 21, a notification was issued in this regard.
During the construction of the Pavana Dam, a new road was constructed above the backwater level. Kusgaon Budruk is a nearby market for villages in Pavana Valley. Due to the Western ghat topography, the villagers of Gevhandi, and Apti have to travel longer distances to reach Kusgaon. There is foot passing through the Forest land of Gevhandi & Kusgaon. Hence there is a need for a shorter road joining ODR 69 (Pavana Nagar, Gevhande, Apti) to Kusgaon Budruk.
“After a detailed survey, it was observed the proposed road required forest land that is under private as well as reserve forest category,” said an official from ZP on condition of anonymity.
Chandrakant Waghmare, additional CEO, Pune ZP said, “The length of the entire road is 4 km, and the proposal for the stretch was first sent to the Forest Department for approval in February 2021. After completion of the necessary procedure, the State government has given approval for the road construction. With this, we can start the construction work. However, to get the necessary funds under the district administration schemes, we further need to convert it into a Village Road (VR).”
