3 ‘threatened’ for carrying out demolition drives, seek VRS

The crackdown against illegal constructions in Pimpri-Chinchwad it seems has taken a toll on those who carried out the drive.

Three officers of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) have applied for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) as they were reportedly getting threats for conducting anti-encroachment drives, sources said.

The three persons who have applied for VRS are executive engineer Balwant Bankar and account officers Namdev Shinde and Avinash Dev.

When contacted, PCMC joint commissioner Amrut Sawant said, “The administrative department has received three applications of VRS. However, all three of them have applied for the same due to their health problems. They have been serving for the civic body for almost forty years.”

Balwant Bankar told DNA, “I am not taking VRS out of fear. I have applied for it because of my ill-health. I have already completed nearly 38 years in civic service. The decision to apply for VRS was not sudden. I thought about taken it in January.”

Shinde and Dev were not available for comments.

After a brief lull, the PCMC again started its crackdown against illegal structures in April amidst strong opposition by corporators from all the parties, thus making it more of a political issue. The civic officials often faced the wrath of residents whenever they used to go to conduct survey of new constructions or encroached structures.

Earlier, officials from the PCMC had conducted a survey and found out that over 1,000 new illegal structures had come up in the area.