E-Paper
Residents of Pune society carry out peaceful protest against road widening and tree cutting plan
Fifty five societies have officially sent letters to support the cancellation of the road widening project
At least 50 residents of Ideal Colony in Kothrud, including children, peacefully protested against the proposal of road widening in their colony. There is a proposal in the new development plan (DP), announced in January 2017, to increase the size of the road in the area from the existing nine metres to 18 metres, besides cutting 250 trees. The proposal also includes taking over a part of the colony ground upto 30 metres.
Ideal Colony was set up in 1983 with 70 plots ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 sq ft in a well arranged layout along two main roads, Paud road and Karve road, in Kothrud. This colony has two main roads measuring nine metres wide that connect the main roads. It was maintained as it is according to the 1987 development plan. However, Pune municipal corporation (PMC) officials have been conducting surveys to implement the proposal and residents are protesting the civic body’s move.
“We were supposed to stand surrounding the colony, but were denied permission by the police, hence, we decided to hold the protest meet inside the colony ground,” said Nandkumar Wadhavkar, chairman, Ideal Society. Wadhavkar resides in Niranka housing society and his house is one of the 70 societies that constitute Ideal Colony.
“This colony is home to 3,000 residents and any new change will upset the balanced layout,” said architect Makrand Shende, living in Anant Sagar society, part of Ideal Colony.
The roads are lined with trees, but with the new DP all these trees are set to be removed. “We have nurtured these trees and even planted several of them and seen them grow,” said Makrand Ketkar, treasurer of the colony and resident of Nishigandha park in Ideal Colony.
The colony also has a three acre open ground, which has seen many cultural programmes being held every year. “Well-known artists have performed here. If one follows the new DP, then we will lose this ground by 15 feet from the east and west side of the colony. We have held a meeting on the ground with all four corporators - Murlidhar Mohol, Privthviraj Sutar, Vasanti Jadhav and Harshali Mathwad - on October 1, 2018. Three hundred and fifty residents attended the meeting and demanded immediate action,” said Wadhadkar.
Fifty five societies have officially sent letters to support the cancellation of the road widening project. “We have been opposing this DP since it was announced in January 2017. There was confusion among residents regarding the DP as the map showed the road width as nine metres while on paper the DP had proposed width of 18 metres. PMC had given the residents less than a month to object or suggest, which was not enough,” said Atul Ambardekar, member of the governing council and a resident of Orchid society.
