Urban News

Resident Deputy Collector Anil Pawar said that though the district collectorate officers had helped in conducting the survey, the PMC officers were yet to take action on the illegal constructions on the Ram Nadi. “It is the responsibility of the municipal authorities,” he said.

However, PMC city engineer Prashant Waghmare said action has already been taken and notices have been issued. He did not have the number of constructions cleared after the notices were issued.

Surajya Sangharsh Samiti president Vijay Kumbhar said that there has been no action taken and illegal constructions continue to dot the Ram Nadi.

“I will write to both the Collector and the Pune Municipal Commissioner on this issue. If action has been taken, how is it that the constructions still dot the river? They should have been pulled down. There has actually been no action taken,” he said.

Citing the example of the Mithi river in Mumbai, Kumbhar said the Ram Nadi is an case in point where builders have used the river banks for constructions, he added. He said that the flow of natural water has been blocked by illegal constructions and this only makes it difficult for seepage of water.

The collectorate had listed 29 encroachments along the Ram Nadi in a survey carried out two years back after an unprecedented flooding was witnessed in low lying areas of Bavdhan, Pashan, Aundh and Baner.

The preliminary report compiled by the collectorate along with the land records department after a survey of Ram Nadi, a rain-fed tributary of the Mutha, lists 29 illegal constructions along the river at Pashan, Sutarwadi, Baner and Bavdhan Khurd. Five teams conducted the survey. Three teams conducted a survey of a 7-km stretch of land measuring 323.29 hectares along Ram Nadi, while two teams surveyed Ambil Odha.