PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday claimed that river beds in city limits were completely free of encroachment.

"There are no encroachments on the Mula, Mutha and the Ramnadi that flow through city limits. Hence, the question of action against encroachments does not arise," the civic administration said before the general body (GB) meeting.

The civic administration was responding to Shiv Sena corporator Prithviraj Sutar's query that came up for discussion on the July agenda of the GB meeting. Sutar had sought information on rivers, encroachments and the actions taken by the civic body. The administration made the claims in a written reply.

As the GB meeting was adjourned on Friday to pay condolences to actor Rajesh Khanna and others who demised this month, the issue was not debated. However, the administration's answer evoked sharp reactions from opposition parties and civic activists.

BJP city unit chief Vikas Mathkari said, "The PMC's answer is shocking. We all know that rivers in city have been squeezed in by slum encroachments and illegal constructions. The civic administration has just shown its ignorance and apathy towards this serious issue".

"If the PMC is unaware of encroachments, we are ready to help them identify the encroached parts of the rivers. In fact, in the entire state, Pune has maximum encroachments in rivers. It seems the PMC has shown complete ignorance while answering the question," said Sunil Joshi, convener of Jal Biradari.

A survey conducted by the district collector and the PMC in 2007 had shown that the width of the Ramnadi had shrunk by eight to 20 metres and that direction of the river had changed drastically because of encroachments.

Even moderate showers during monsoon see water from Ramnadi gushing into houses nearby. The activists working for the cause of rivers said this was happening because the rampant encroachments on the river bed has drastically reduced the water-carrying capacity of the river.

Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh during his recent visit to the city had said that in Pune, demarcation of land was required to protect the river beds from encroachments.

"Earlier, rivers were treated like mothers, but now they have become garbage dumps,'' Singh had said, insisting that the civic body should stake harder steps to remove encroachments in river beds.

Activists have repeatedly alleged that over the last few years, the river beds have seen rampant encroachments in the form of new structures. River beds are also being used as a ground to dump construction debris.