The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has given a big relief to construction activity in Pune after it relaxed the No Objection Certificate (NOC) norms for height restrictions in areas surrounding a defence airport.
Pune has two defense airports, one at Lohegaon and the other one at the National Defence Academy (NDA).
Pune city engineer Prashant Waghmare said, “We got a great relief from the new notification which was issued by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Around 90 per cent projects will get relief now. We gave various recommendations to the MoD which were accepted. Even the elected members, MP Supriya Sule, MP Girish Bapat and other leaders had also given letters and requested for a relief to Pune.”
Waghmare said earlier the red zone extended to a six kilometre stretch on both sides of the airstrip at Lohegaon and the NDA. There was a funnel zone restriction of six to 18 kilometres near the airfield.
As most parts of the city were falling under these guidelines, almost all projects were going to the MoD for obtaining a NOC.
{{/usCountry}}As most parts of the city were falling under these guidelines, almost all projects were going to the MoD for obtaining a NOC.
{{/usCountry}}“We conducted various meetings with the officials of MoD and requested them to make changes in the colour coded maps but as Pune has many defence establishments, they were strict on their stand. We requested them to make some changes. The MoD suggested giving concrete suggestions to sort out the problem,” Waghmare added.
Acccording to Waghmare, many PMC projects were also tucked as the PMC too needed to submit their proposals for getting a NOC from the MoD. Since the MoD receives proposals from across the country, the city projects were delayed.
“We had given various suggestions which were as per their original notifications and later they got sorted out,” he added.