After a 12-day lull during the Ganesh festival, the Pimpari-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) resumed its anti-encroachment drive yesterday and demolished an unauthorised commercial building constructed on a 5,000 square foot plot in Pimple-Saudagar
Shirish Poredi, a spokesperson of the PCMC’s engineering department said that since the past three months, 90 illegal structures have been demolished in its jurisdiction.u00a0
Wrecked: The commercial building in Pimple-Saudagar, which was demolished by the PCMC yesterday. Pic/Navnath Kaple
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However, the officers said that they did not face any kind of opposition like the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials are facing during the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the city. He added that the people residing in illegal constructions in PCMC’s jurisdiction know for certain that the authority will do its duty at any cost.
Executive Engineer of PCMC Gulab Dangat informed that the demolished commercial building belonged to one Yogendra Rawat.
“As Rawat had not taken permission from the PCMC before starting construction, the authority had issued him notice around two months ago under Article 260 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act ordering that construction be stopped immediately. However, he continued the work and completed construction in these two months, which compelled us to take action,” Dangat said.
Meanwhile Rawat alleged that the PCMC officials were targeting his construction for reasons best known to them.
“PCMC didn’t sanction 2,000 square feet out of my 5,000 square feet of land. After officials refused to sanction 2,000 square feet construction, I personally met Commissioner Dr Srikar Pardeshi and he promised to look into the matter,” Rawat said.
He claims that there are a number of other illegal buildings in the area, but only his construction was targeted, as he did not grease the palms of PCMC officials.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of Engineer Department of PCMC Shirish Poredi said that the officials did not face any kind of opposition or protest, as residents have realised that the PCMC officials would not spare anyone indulging in unauthorised constructions.
“Our drive was stopped for the last 12 days as the police force was not available due to Ganpati festival. However, with yesterday’s drive, we again swung into action,” Poredi said.
He added that PCMC Commissioner Dr Srikar Pardeshi is on official training and Anup Kumar Yadav, who is additional municipal commissioner, is currently acting commissioner and is backing up the anti-encroachment drive.u00a0
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