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PMC imposes ₹1 cr fine for illegal road digging
In April, the PMC ceased granting authorisation to dig roadways, however, few real estate developers had violated the norms since
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) initiated stringent action against unlawful digging in various locations across the city. So far, the civic body has slapped roughly ₹1 crore in fines for unauthorised road digging since the drive began on May 6 this year.
In April, the PMC ceased granting authorisation to dig roadways, however, few real estate developers had violated the norms since. Officials from the PMC discovered unlawful excavating in various parts of the city and initiated action against the perpetrators.
Normally, PMC charges private players ₹12,192 per metre for digging roads.
According to PMC road department statistics, the civic body granted permission for approximately 450 kilometres of roads to private and government entities such as Jio Digital Fibre (200 kilometres), Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL-15 kilometres), Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL-101 kilometres), Power Grid Corporation (2 kilometres), PMC water and drainage department (100 kilometres), Maharashtra Metro railway corporation limited, Tata communication, and others.
Dinkar Gojare, the executive engineer of PMC Road Department, stated, “We have imposed a fine of approximately ₹41lakh on developer Ajay Agrawal for laying 140 metres of electrical cables for the housing scheme near D-Mart on Nagras Road in Aundh.”
He went on to say, “We observed that the MSEDCL contractor misled the authorities and carried out illegal digging to lay electrical cables for new connections.”
Another PMC official from Nagar Road, on condition of anonymity said that the civic body fined a private realtor near Baker Gauges company in Viman Nagar and imposed ₹58 lakh penalties for illegal digging.
In a similar vein, Amar Shinde, executive engineer of the road department confirmed that digging material and cables were confiscated as a few workers were found disturbing the tar without permission at Salisbury Park.
“Workers dug 50 metres of road and laid cables without proper permission. We confiscated the material and have filed a police report against the employment contractor,” Shinde informed.
Similar action was taken in Kasba Peth, where labourers were laying MSEDCL cables without permission.
Reacting to the development, Ashish Mane, a civic activist said, “Notices and heavy fines do not serve any purpose for illegal digging. PMC completes only formalities to serve legal notices, file police complaints and impose fines. Last year, I found illegal digging in June 2022 on the airport road in the Vimannagar area. One of the builders was doing illegal digging. The PMC Road Department served only legal notices to the concerned builder.”
Besides that, Mane alleged that PMC top officials transfer the engineer who takes action on illegal digging.
