Pune: Defence body moots handing over of 4 road stretches to PMC

Shweta Desai, Express India

Civic authority to compensate defence by way of cash-cum-amenities package

Pune, September 5: THE Defence Estate office of the Pune Circle has put up a proposal suggesting that four road stretches passing through defence land and aggregating some 72,000 sq metres, be handed over to the Pune Municipal Corporation for road widening projects. The PMC on its part has been for a while been demanding that all 14 roads passing through various establishments be handed over to them. There will not be any transfer of land ownership but it would only be leased out to the civic authority, it is understood.

As per the proposal, the PMC would compensate the Defence for loss of land by way of cash-cum-amenities offer. The cost of the land of all the 14 roads stretches aggregating two lakh sq metres is estimated at Rs 50 crore, though the authorities are yet to make a valuation of the four road stretches.

Says Defence Estate Officer Sewak Nayyar, ‘‘We have forwarded the proposal for four roads to the Director General, Defence Estate, C R Mohapatra. Currently the proposals are at the scrutiny level after which they would be sent to the Ministry of Defence for final approval. The defence authorities would still have the ownership of the land.’’

The road stretches include: Pune Nagar road, Yerwada (survey number 202, 205), Sangamwadi to Sadalbaba chowk, Yerwada (survey number 28,31 to 44), Pune-Alandi road, Yerwada (survey number 84, 86, 94) and Nagar road to Airport (VIP) road, Yerwada, Lohegaon (survey number 233, 204).

For transferring or leasing out the defence land to another authority, an NOC is required at two levels: Local Military Authority and the Defence Estate. In case of these four roads, the defence estate has already forwarded the proposals to the director general while the station head quarters of Khadki and Pune too have given their NOCs in this regard.