E-Paper
PMC, district collectorate to form task force to forcibly acquire land to fast-track delayed projects
Many civic projects have been delayed for years due to pending land acquisition, especially roadworks such as the Katraj-Kondhwa stretch
In a bid to fast-track infrastructure projects that have been delayed due to pending land acquisition, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and district collectorate have decided to form a task force to carry out land acquisition forcibly over the next two months. The decision was taken during a meeting held on Tuesday with PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, district collector Jitendra Dudi, and senior officials from both departments.
PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram told Hindustan Times, “We have decided to initiate forcible land acquisition in cases where negotiations have dragged on for too long. Important city projects, particularly road works, have been affected. The task force will prioritise acquisition work over the next two months. Our goal is to acquire maximum land parcels and get these projects moving.”
Many civic projects have been delayed for years due to pending land acquisition, especially roadworks such as the Katraj-Kondhwa stretch. According to the prevailing legal framework, the district administration is responsible for acquiring land on behalf of the PMC. However, negotiations with landowners have dragged on for too long, delaying projects.
Among the projects delayed due to pending land acquisition discussed at the meeting were: a river overbridge connecting Sun City to Karvenagar which will provide a direct link from Sinhagad Road to Kothrud and Karvenagar, thus eliminating the need to travel via Rajaram Bridge or other congested routes; a river bridge in Wakad which has been completed structurally but is unusable due to the lack of approach roads for which, higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil recently directed the PMC to proceed with compulsory land acquisition if required; and the Katraj-Kondhwa road-widening project for which the collector has now directed the administration to expedite land acquisition work.
A total 42 proposals for forcible land acquisition were also discussed at the meeting. Of these, 34 relate to the PMC’s road department, while the remaining eight involve the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) and other departments. Projects related to the Satara–Mumbai Road and Hadapsar–Solapur Road were also among those reviewed. PMC road department head Aniruddha Pawaskar also raised the issue of ‘missing links’ or short but critical stretches that remain incomplete due to land acquisition issues. Both the collector and municipal commissioner said that the task force will prioritise these as well. The task force is expected to begin work immediately and report progress on a weekly basis. Formerly the district collector of Pune, Naval Kishore Ram is familiar with the land acquisition process and is now taking the lead in resolving these bottlenecks.
