Development works under PMC in the slow lane
All through the year, the infrastructure development in the city by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) went very slow.
However, the civic body should be given the credit of completing the task of preparing a Development Plan (DP) for the old city areas. For the pending works, the civic body and parties are blaming each other.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said that NCP is the single-largest party in the PMC, but it is not the majority. Our party is in majority in Pimpri-Chinchwad and unilateral action can be taken, but in the PMC, we have to consult others before taking any step. However, the opposition BJP is not ready to agree with the argument. They said not a single project has been completed since February when the NCP-Congress came to power.
Infrastructure work started by the PMC in 2005 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) remained incomplete in 2012 despite reproving severely by the state government to meet the deadline. The centre has approved 11 projects under the JNNURM out of which PMC has completed only four projects. Construction work on five projects is 85% complete and the remaining two projects are over 70% complete.
The pilot BRTS, Baner Subway, Sangamwadi Road and a sewage treatment plant are the four completed projects and civic body has utilized Rs1,585 crores for these projects. The pending work of JNNURM will be completed before March 2014 deadline set by the Union government, as told by PMC. PMC is planning to complete at least half of the projects.
Out of 609 reservation for various civic facilities only 134 have been developed by the PMC which raises serious doubts about the entire development plan in the city. The backlog will be reduced to half as PMC has no plans for acquiring new land in 2013.
Pune Municipal Corporation also failed to widen the roads in the 23 merged villages. Roads in merged villages that comes under the PMC limits are to be widen by 50 percent to control the increased number of vehicles in the future. The civic body hopes to start the work in 2013.
In July, Ajit Pawar convinced the property owners to accept cash compensation or Floor Space Index (FSI) on behalf of their land in which they are planning to construct Mutha-Mula riverside road project from Shivane to Kharadi. The project will cost Rs 1,200 crores and the work is expected to start in 2013.
Construction of one such flyovers has began on Satara Road, one will come up at Swargate and three more have been planned near the College of Engineering. The purpose to construct flyover is to ease traffic congestion.
The PMC plans to start works on flyovers at Swargate, Null Stop, Simla office junction, Alka Talkies, Balgandharva chowk, Market Yard, Nehru road junctions and Vetal chowk on Senapati Bapat road. Two civic groups have approached the Bombay High Court against flyovers plan and the year 2013 would be crucial in this regard.
The water supply has been reduced to 10% from 20%. The civic body planned to speed up the 24/7 water supply project, water meter work and direct pipeline from Bhama Askhed dam.
PMC has set a deadline for Sewage Treatment Plants (STP). The PMC also planning to complete the pilot metered water supply project in the next six months. The garbage system seems to be going out of control. The city has to think of new processing units as the garbage generation will rise. In 2013 they are planning 100 percent segregation and more bio gas plants across the city.
PMC chasing developers of illegal buildings
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