Defence ministry assures review of Red Zone in Dighi

Minister of state for defence, Pallam Raju, has given a verbal assurance to reduce the no-construction ‘Red Zone’ around the Dighi magazine depot of the Ammunition Factory, Khadki (AFK) to 610 metres.

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who met Raju in Delhi on Thursday claimed the minister gave the assurance of reducing the Red Zone to 610 metres from 1,145 metres.

BJP MP Prakash Javadekar, defence secretary (production) Shekhar Agarwal, BJP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad city president Eknath Pawar, and Bhartiya Vidyarthi Sena’s vice-president Sarang Kamthekar, were present at the meeting with officials of the ministry of defence (MoD).

Pawar told DNA on Thursday, “We discussed the Bhosari-Dighi Red Zone issue in detail with the defence officials. We told them that nearly 20,000 people would suffer if the defence authorities did not reduce the Red Zone to 610 metres.”

Kamthekar said, “The minister said it was impossible to rehabilitate such a large population and promised us he would make efforts in this regard.”

On Wednesday, the divisional commissioner of Pune, Dilip Band, had ordered the demolition of 250 constructions within the Red Zone.