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Rehabilitate Ambil odha affected families in 24 hours or else will stay with them in PMC, threaten corporator
The deluge also washed away a few slums near Dandekar bridge and since then the families have been rendered homeless
Pune: After a three-and-a-half-hour discussion on Ambil odha (stream) on the damage caused due to the September 25 flash floods, corporators slammed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) over failure to rehabilitate the 26 affected families of Dandekar bridge area who are still living in a municipal school. The corporators on Tuesday threatened to bring in the affected families inside the PMC headquarters building premises and stay with them if they are not rehabilitated within 24 hours.
About 18 people were reported dead during the September flash floods. The deluge also washed away a few slums near Dandekar bridge and since then the families have been rendered homeless. Dheeraj Ghate, local BJP corporator said, “It has been over 2.5 months since the administration has neglected them and they are living in a civic school for the past two and a half months.”
Rubal Agarwal, additional municipal commissioner said, “We did offer the affected families homes under SRA (slum rehabilitation authority) and other government projects in Hadapsar, but they refused to take them. Now we are looking for other options near the affected places itself.”
Ghate said, “How can the administration expect them to move at such a distant place when they have been living near Dandekar bridge for the past 40 years? They have their job, kid’s education and family in that area. How can they just uproot all this in a day? Why is the administration still thinking on it?”
The corporators slammed the civic administration for the delayed work in removing encroachments and rebuilding infrastructure like washed away roads and culverts. They also highlighted that not just slums, but there are societies which have got legal permissions from the civic body for carrying out construction which also need to be cleared. The corporators said that these constructions have blocked the natural path of the canal which led to flash floods.
The administration will table a report on survey conducted after floods to access damage and also on the retaining walls that need to be built, on Thursday.
₹5 crore cleared for Chandani chowk flyover project
On Tuesday, PMC standing committee cleared a proposal worth Rs 5 crore, including GST, to clear utilities and water pipelines that are coming in the way of the Chandani chowk flyover. The amount would be paid to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) which will build the flyover. The flyover will declog traffic at Hinjewadi IT park, stretches of the Mumbai-Bengaluru bypass, Mulshi road, Paud road and Pashan road.
