Pune: Six Years To Mahalunge-Maan Town Planning Scheme; Still Not Approved By State Government

Pune, 29th August 2024: The implementation of the Mahalunge-Maan Primary Town Planning Project (TP Scheme) also known as the first ‘Hi-Tech City’ inaugurated by the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has not been completed even after six years. The scheme has not yet received final approval from the state government.

Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) was established by the state government to develop the area of Pune. After that PMRDA had taken up the work of the said TP scheme on about 250 hectares in the very first phase. Also, the allotment of the plot was decided after hearing the objections. The PMRDA planned to prepare the property cards of the allotted plots and distribute them to the residents.

It then came under the view that the flood line of both the Mula and Mutha rivers was not shown while planning the same. Meanwhile, it was determined by the Water Resources Department, and submitted the report about it to PMRDA.

As a result, due to the change in the flood line of both banks of the river, some plots had to be changed and the scheme had to be restructured. Changes had to be made in the area of the planning and the plots to be allotted. The newly revised draft of the said scheme was again sent to the state government for approval.

An arbitrator was appointed to re-hear the change in the said plan. It has now been more than a year since the work was completed by the arbitrator and sent to the state government for final approval. It has not yet been approved by the state government. Therefore, even though it has been six years since the work of the scheme was undertaken, the implementation has not yet started.

In this newly prepared plan, about 209 plots out of 359 plots have been changed by the arbitrator. Therefore, it is seen that out of 250 hectares, about 27 to 28 hectares have been changed. As a result, while revising the old plan, the new plan has changed more than 60 percent, said the officials on condition of anonymity.

Therefore, as the scheme is now six years old, there has been a huge increase in the implementation cost. The question is now being raised that when the old plan was scrutinized by PMRDA and the Town Planning Department, how did the earlier plan get approval when the flood line was not taken into consideration while planning?