PMRDA seeks suggestions and objections from residents on draft Development Plan

The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) is seeking suggestions or objections from residents on the draft Development Plan (DP) for the metropolitan region.

The draft DP and report was put for public inspection at the Art Gallery of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Kalamandir located within the office of PMRDA in Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad Udyog Bhavan in Aundh on Monday.

In a notification dated July 30, Metropolitan Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of PMRDA, Suha Diwase, said, “The suggestions and objections in writing can be submitted by the public with reasons to the Metropolitan Commissioner and CEO, PMRDA. It should be done within a period of 30 days from the date of publication of the notice.”

Diwase said the draft DP includes the notified area of 23 villages that were recently excluded from PMRDA area and included in the limits of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

On July 29, the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had approved the PMRDA plan to publish the draft DP as a step towards completing the process to finalise it.

According to the PMRDA, the metropolitan region is spread over 6,914.26 sq km and the development of projects proposed in the DP will cost Rs 75,000 crore. It is the largest metropolitan area in the state and third largest in the country after Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

According to the 2011 census, the population of PMRDA is 17.11 lakh and is estimated to grow up to 53.70 lakh by 2041.

Further, the metropolitan region will have 59 public housing projects, 26 town planning schemes, eight biodiversity parks, 16 public parks along with a few satellite townships to implement the concept of walk to work. There will be 30 fire stations across the metropolitan region.

For better connectivity through the public transport system and road infrastructure, the PMRDA has proposed two ring roads, high speed railway, crescent railway and 10 metro rail routes. Also, there will be 13 multi-modal hubs, seven treatment centres for accident victims, four regional centres, 15 civic facilitation centres and 12 logistic centres.

The PMRDA has proposed five tourist destinations, five mega educational centres, two medical research centres, agriculture processing research and development centre, a sports university, eight rural strengthening centres, two industrial research and training centres and four agriculture produce marketing committees (APMC) for encouraging economic activities.

Senior BJP leaders Ujjwal Keskar and Suhas Kulkarni said the PRMDA has violated the MRTP Act and Constitution while publishing the notification on DP. “The publishing of DP is in violation of the Constitution. It has also violated Clause 26 of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. It is illegal for the PMRDA to publish the draft DP as it has been transferred to the state town planning department as per the provisions of MRTP Act,” a statement issued by the leaders said.

The maps of the draft DP are not published on the official website of PMRDA and are not being made available in soft copy to residents and there is no facility of email address for residents to submit suggestions or objections through electronic medium, they said, adding that the state government has not included elected representatives in the MPC.

Mayor Murlidhar Mohol has been urging the state government to enable the PMC to prepare a DP for the 23 villages instead of PMRDA. “It is the right given to the PMC under the BPMC Act and MRTP Act to be the planning authority of an area in its jurisdiction and prepare a DP,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar urged the PMC to make necessary suggestions in the draft DP instead of demanding powers to prepare DP.

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