83rd annual Boating Regatta will now be held on truncated portion of river instead of 5-km stretch.
The remnants of an earthen road constructed by the Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL) in the Mula river has been obstructing all boating activity of the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) for the last 18 months.
As a result, the 83rd annual boating regatta of the Boat Club scheduled for January 22 will now be held on a truncated portion of the river closest to the boat club and not the entire 5-km stretch from CoEP to Holkar bridge, Khadki.
River activist Vinod Bodhankar of the Jal Biradri group, CoEP boat club officials and students spoke to DNA on Tuesday about this unfortunate turn of events.
According to the vice president, CoEP boat club, CY Patil, a written complaint was sent by the CoEP to the MNGL but has not evoked a response.
CoEP boating club foreman Balasaheb Kamble said the MNGL constructed an earthen road in the river between Patil Estate and Sangamwadi directly below the new Sangamwadi bridge in March 2010 to lay a gas pipeline. According to Kamble, after the pipeline was laid on the Patil Estate river bank, the top portion of the road was dismantled by the company leaving the base, rubble intact inside the river. “It is this rubble from the earthen road which is obstructing free passage of our boats towards Khadki.”
According to Kamble, the CoEP boat club has 30 racing boats and one boat with an outboard motor.
CoEP boat club managing committee member Kunal Borse told DNA on Tuesday, “The fins of our boats break and our students are not able to practice on the entire 5-km river stretch till Khadki. This is disheartening.” When Team DNA visited the site on Tuesday afternoon, the remnants of the road could be seen clearly. One could also observe that the MNGL through their contractor, Jaihind Projects, Ahmedabad had recently embarked on laying a gas pipeline on the Sangamwadi river bank side. At least two JCB machines and 15 workers were excavating large portions of the river which had created formidable earthen mounds on the river banks.
When contacted, MNGL liaison officer Rajneesh Verma said he was not aware of the problem and the CoEP complaint. “We will take the necessary measures to excavate the rubble from the base of the river at the earliest,”
Verma said.
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