Jogging track near Pune's Prabhat Road in bad shape, alleges Anil Bhosale

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLC and corporator, Anil Bhosale, on Wednesday claimed that the jogging track near Prabhat Road was in bad condition on account of the stance of the Hirwaee Trust, and alleged that its founder-trustee and actor-director, Amol Palekar, was not cooperating.

The trust had signed a contract with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)  in 2004 to develop and maintain a jogging track on the 1.1-km stretch near a canal in Prabhat Road area.
Bhosale said in the PMC general body meeting on Wednesday that environmentalists were ruining the garden and Palekar did not approve of the contractor appointed by the PMC for the maintenance of the garden. He asked the administration to take note of the degradation of the garden.

The corporator said the Hirwaee Trust was behaving in a high-handed manner regarding the track. “A motor pump was set up in the garden to solve the water supply problem, but it is not working as there is some dispute regarding who should pay the electricity bill. Even the monthly salary of the security guard has not been paid. Such problems occur when the civic administration fails to take care while signing contracts,” he said.

Meanwhile, Palekar told DNA that it was the PMC which was to complete the jogging track and the garden, and Hirwaee had offered to maintain it for 10 years. He said that as the work of jogging track is incomplete, it was difficult for the trust to take the
responsibility of maintenance.