The controversy over the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) plot of 2.2 acres took a new turn on Monday as city builder and activist, Ravindra Barate, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry against city engineer, Prashant Waghmare.
The controversy over the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) plot of 2.2 acres took a new turn on Monday as city builder and activist, Ravindra Barate, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry against city engineer, Prashant Waghmare, for allegedly sending a letter without authority to the state government recommending action in the matter as per the request of the landowner.
DNA had first exposed the change of zoning of the land of 2.2 acres, valued at more than Rs22 crore, on the campus of the NCL off Pashan Road. The state government has deleted the zone of the land from the public/ semi-public (PSP) zone on the basis of a letter by the then director of NCL, S Sivaram, and a request by the landowner, Prakash N Baldota.
The changing of zone facilitated commercial development of prime land. Before promulgating an order for change of zone of the controversial piece of land, the state government sent a letter to the municipal commissioner on August 3, 2010 for his opinion.
The letter was forwarded to the city engineer, who sent a letter to the urban development department of the state government on
September 27, 2010.
Barate has made allegations against Waghmare regarding this letter. Barate wrote to municipal commissioner, Mahesh Zagade, on February 14, about the letter sent to the state government by Waghmare stating that action be taken according to the request by the landowner under section 50 of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act (MRTP) Act, 1966.
Barate said Waghmare did not have the authority to send such a letter to the state government. Even the municipal commissioner did not have authority to do so. Only the general body (GB) of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) could pass such a resolution recommending deletion of zone. Hence, a CBI inquiry be conducted in the matter against Waghmare, he said.
Waghmare told DNA that the municipal commissioner had delegated power to him to send such a letter. He had sent the letter after discussing the issue with the civic chief. He had stated only facts in the letter and had not made any recommendation.
Established in 1950 in Pashan, the NCL is a premier public research institute. It has a campus spread over 478 acres. The controversial plot of land owned by Baldota is on the campus.
According to experts of the MRTP Act, 1966, the NCL could have acquired the land for its use, as it was marked as PSP zone for its use in the development plan (DP) of the city.
Instead, the then NCL director, S Sivaram, sent a letter to the state government on July 30, 2010, that the land be deleted from the PSP zone. The letter was the basis on which the state government took the decision.
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