The Times of India                16.05.2013

Nashik Municipal Corporation to shift out hutments on sadhugram land in Tapovan

NASHIK: The 10 hutments, which were shifted to the land reserved for the sadhugram along the Mumbai-Agra highway in Tapovan, will again be shifted to the Nilgiri Baug housing society. The owners of 139 constructions on the sadhugram land have also been notified by the civic administration to submit their property documents.

In the wake of the forthcoming Simhastha Kumbh mela to be held in 2015, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to shift the 10 hutments that it had shifted temporarily from the highway to the 54-acre sadhugram at Tapovan earlier. The hutment dwellers will be included in the list of beneficiaries for the Nilgiri Baug housing society which has been constructed as part of the housing scheme for the urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The civic body needs a total of 328 acres for the sadhugram. It has only 54 acres of land in its possession since the last Kumbh in 2003-04 and is yet acquire 274 more acres.

The town planning department has already issued notices to the 139 constructions on the 274 acres of land reserved for the sadhugram, which connects to the land already in possession of the civic administration. They have also asked for the required documents from the property owners.

"These constructions - including houses and farm houses - are of the owners of the land reserved for the sadhugram. In order to acquire this land we will need to do away with the constructions," executive engineer of the NMC's town planning department S V Ghuge said. He further said that while these constructions were not illegal, the documents of the properties were being verified.

"Some of the owners have submitted the documents while others are yet to submit them. We are in the process of scrutinising the documents that we have received," said Ghuge.

Meanwhile, the sadhus have been demanding more land for accommodating the visiting sadhus for the mela and criticising the administration for not making proper arrangements.