Taljai Hills: After HT report, administration stops excavation work in biodiversity area
District administration has now swung into action ,serving the builder in question, Rohan Batewar, a notice and calling for a hearing on April 20.
Two days after Hindustan Times reported the ‘illegal’ excavation of Taljai hill, situated in the city’s biodiversity park area, the district administration swung into action serving the builder in question, Rohan Batewar, a notice and calling for a hearing on April 20.
On Wednesday, district administrative officers, including the circle officer and talathi, visited survey numbers 4, 5 and 6 and undertook a ‘panchanama’.
Information was moved to the tehsil’s office immediately and a notice on the “illegal work” has been served.
Circle officer Jadhav RH said,“We did the panchanama of survey numbers 4,5 and 6 on the plot near Gauri Shankar society and served a notice to the builder in question. The tehsildar has called a hearing on this issue on April 20.We have ordered the work to be stopped.”
“As far as permission is concerned, no one has approached us for excavation permission,” Jadhav said.
As per HT’s report of Tuesday, April 17, real estate developer Batewar had begun to flatten a part of Taljai hill in Hingne Khurd as part of a plan to create small plots which would then be sold.
“As per orders from our seniors, our officers visited the spot and found illegal excavation of Taljai hills on.Hence, they served the notice.The developer can submit all documents and proof at the hearing, after which we will scrutinise it and take further action,” tehsildar Prashant Pisal said.
On Wednesday, when Hindustan Times visited Taljai hill, excavation work had stopped.
Activist Sarang Yadwadkar had earlier said that according to the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966, the contractor should have taken permission from the respective authority for any type of development. “If the contractor is claiming that he has permission for excavation in the bio-diversity park area, then he should show it, because no authority can give permission for such type of an excavation in the park area,” Yadwadkar said.
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An HT investigation reveals illegal excavation of Taljai hill, which falls within the city’s biodiversity park, a no-development zone. The developer was using earth movers to flatten a portion of hill . The biodiversity park is spread over 100 acres and is a protected region currently under the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC
).