Monday Musings: “When there’s no will, there are only meetings and debates” - Hindustan Times
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Monday Musings: “When there’s no will, there are only meetings and debates”

Apr 18, 2022 04:07 PM IST

The concerns expressed by environmentalists can be legitimate and addressed, but delaying infrastructure projects is actually not good for the city in the long term. For this, what is required is a will, which is missing

Last week Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari was in the city to inaugurate an open-air theatre at Bhandarkar Research Oriental Institute. During the event he said projects don’t get approved quickly in Pune. “In Pune, there is most often a debate on every issue,” Gadkari said, referring to how the Metro project was delayed in getting approval as there was a lack of consensus over whether it should be underground or elevated.

The riverfront development project costs about <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>2,619 crores and covers about 44 km of the Mula-Mutha river stretch passing through Pune. It aims to beautify the riverfront and make the river accessible for residents for recreational purposes, which is now limited to a few. The project requires about 768 hectares. (HT FILE PHOTO)
The riverfront development project costs about 2,619 crores and covers about 44 km of the Mula-Mutha river stretch passing through Pune. It aims to beautify the riverfront and make the river accessible for residents for recreational purposes, which is now limited to a few. The project requires about 768 hectares. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Gadkari is partially right. If every small or big project is held hostage by a group of people for some reason – environment or otherwise – the city may never be able to keep up the pace with infrastructure that is essential. Infrastructure development is an essential pillar for a growing city like Pune, but what is happening over various projects may stall the development here in long term.

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Take for instance riverfront development project. It was scrutinised and approved by various state and central agencies before Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched it on March 6 this year. Yet, a group of people persisted with the opposition that prompted the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state to put it on hold. The MVA on its part was looking for an opportunity to put spokes in a project aggressively pushed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) level.

Now it has been a month, the state water resource department held a meeting of various stakeholders while PMC too has responded to concerns raised by environmentalists. The project is now being reviewed once again after city environmentalists raised the issue of faulty planning.

The project costs about 2,619 crores and covers about 44 km of the Mula-Mutha river stretch passing through Pune. It aims to beautify the riverfront and make the river accessible for residents for recreational purposes, which is now limited to a few. The project requires about 768 hectares.

The environmentalists have certain concerns about the proposed project including a threat to disrupt the flow of the river. The project, they say, will revise the natural flood lines for the sake of the project which means that the areas around the river could cause flooding during monsoon.

This is not the first project, which has faced opposition. Metro, as referred by Gadkari was a classic case. For over four years – even after everything else was decided – the government could not decide on the route. Residents from Deccan led by then BJP MP Anil Shirole pressed for an underground stretch even as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had approved an elevated route. The former MP tried hard to push for change the led to a massive delay.

Finally, Gadkari called a meeting of all stakeholders where Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar too was present and approved the project that is currently being implemented. Had the minister not taken a firm stand and pushed it, the project would have been delayed further. The same can happen with the Mula-Mutha riverfront development project.

The concerns expressed by environmentalists can be legitimate and addressed, but delaying infrastructure projects is actually not good for the city in the long term. For this, what is required is a will, which is missing. And when there is no will, as Gadkari says, there are only meetings and debates.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Yogesh Joshi is Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times. He covers politics, security, development and human rights from Western Maharashtra.

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