Residents of Prathamesh Park co-operative housing society , who have been strenuously fighting a 16-month battle against encroachments by two companies on the sanctioned development plan (DP) road located on survey no 41/1 in Kondhwa Budruk, have knocked the doors of the Prime Minister’s office alleging that the Pune municipal corporation ( PMC ) was helping the encroachers and denying the residents their fundamental right to road.
The said road has been awaiting construction despite persistent demands from the residents and numerous communications with PMC’s road, building permissions and allied departments for more than one and a half years.
Pune mayor Mukta Tilak, in May, had said that necessary directions will be issued to demolish the road encroachments so that the residents were not put to inconvenience in response to a complaint handed over to her by the senior citizens and former defence employee Madhusoodan Korekar who has been single-handedly spearheading the battle against illegalities and alleged corruption in the building permissions department.
Korekar who has filed a string of Right to Information (RTI) applications with PMC claimed that the civic body’s official incharge for carrying out survey, issuing notices and subsequent demolition, were not forthcoming in helping the residents.
“Despite submission of legal proof, like bonafide documents showing that it is a sanctioned DP road, the PMC engineers have not bothered to take the complaint on record which shows their lethargic and anti-resident attitude. The officials incharge for demolition informed me that a proposal to demolish the encroachments under police protection has been submitted to the Kondhwa police station, but when I checked with the senior police inspector incharge, I was shocked to know that nothing of that sort has happened. The PMC officials are lying, protecting the illegal encroachers and offering them active assistance and support for their illegal activities. The legal rights of the residents is being denied by the PMC,” Kolekar said.
{{/usCountry}}“Despite submission of legal proof, like bonafide documents showing that it is a sanctioned DP road, the PMC engineers have not bothered to take the complaint on record which shows their lethargic and anti-resident attitude. The officials incharge for demolition informed me that a proposal to demolish the encroachments under police protection has been submitted to the Kondhwa police station, but when I checked with the senior police inspector incharge, I was shocked to know that nothing of that sort has happened. The PMC officials are lying, protecting the illegal encroachers and offering them active assistance and support for their illegal activities. The legal rights of the residents is being denied by the PMC,” Kolekar said.
{{/usCountry}}When contacted over the issue, mayor Tilak said, “All the necessary directions will be issued to the road department and also the anti-encroachment department directing them to remove encroachments on the road which has been sanctioned under the development plan. I have forwarded the complaint to the building and asked the complainants to follow up with them,” she added.