Shirish
Poreddy, spokesperson of PCMC’s engineering department, told TOI: “The
civic body has decided to demarcate the land reservations which have
been listed in the DP. Wherever land has been acquired, the corporation
will put up notice boards warning people that no one should enter into
any agreement for purchase of these plots. Land along the river banks
will be demarcated with the high and low floodlines.”

The PCMC has invited bids for selecting an agency for demarcation of plots. The estimated cost of the work is around Rs 2.5 crore.

The first development plan of the corporation was approved in 1995.
However, even after 17 years, the civic body has been able to develop
very few reserved plots. Corporators and social activists have
criticized the administration for not developing the reserved plots.

Sarang Kamthekar, vice-president of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena’s
state unit, said that, as per the information received from the PCMC
under the RTI, there are 26,711 unauthorised constructions on 269 plots reserved in the development plan of 1995.

“There may be many unauthorized constructions on the plots reserved in
the DP for the newly-merged villages. The civic body must acquire all
the reserved plots to provide amenities like hospitals, gardens, fire
brigade offices, and vegetable markets.”

Three rivers – Pavana,
Indrayani and Mula – run through Pimpri-Chinchwad. With the help of the
irrigation department, the civic body has demarcated the high and low
floodlines along the rivers. However, many corporators allege that the
floodlines are unrealistic and that many densely populated areas are
affected by the wrongly marked floodlines.

Manav Kamble,
president of the Nagari Hakka Suraksha Samiti, said: “The PCMC had been
claiming that they had been making a provision of Rs 100 crore annually
from 2007 onwards in the civic budget to acquire land reserved in the DP
for various public amenities. But they have not been fully utilizing
the amount for this purpose. The people have been deprived of the
amenities. The ruling parties and the civic administration have failed
to acquire these reserved plots in the past 17 years. The PCMC must
concentrate on acquiring all the plots reserved in the DP and developing
them to provide basic amenities to the people.”