Survey encroachments on nalas: Ajit Pawar

Deputy chief minister and district guardian minister Ajit Pawar on Monday directed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and irrigation department to prepare a detailed report about the encroachments on the nalas in the city.

He said illegal constructions preventing the natural flow
of water should be demolished immediately.

Addressing the district planning and development committee (DPDC) meeting at Council Hall, Pawar asked municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade and irrigation department chief engineer Avinash Surve to submit a report within the next three months.

Pawar said the irrigation department has identified 50 nalas and brooks in the city so far where there are encroachments.

Zagade said the number of encroachments was very high and it was not easy to list all of them in a short time.

State assembly speaker Dilip Walse-Patil, minister for co-operation Harshawardhan Patil, MLAs Girish Bapat, Chandrakant Mokate, Ramesh Wanjale, Vijay Shivtare, Vallabh Benake, Bapu Pathare, Vinayak Nimhan, Mohan Joshi, Deepti Chowdhary and Ulhas Pawar were present. Divisional commissioner Dilip Band and district collector Chandrakant Dalvi, along with other officials from various departments, attended the meeting.

MLA Girish Bapat demanded an action plan against the encroachments while Nimhan pointed out that the water had logged during the recent rains in Aundh and Pashan areas due to the encroachments.