Punawale garbage depot plan: Forest dept set to cancel land deal, PCMC rushes to district collectorate
Even as it grapples with the problem of garbage disposal as its Moshi dump has run out of space, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has more trouble in store as the forest department has threatened to cancel a land deal to facilitate the next such garbage depot for the civic body. In turn, the PCMC has rushed to the district collectorate, urging it to provide an adequate amount of land with which it intends to compensate the forest department.
тАЬThe PCMC had asked for 22 hectares of forest land in the Punawale area. We had asked the PCMC to provide us an alternative 22 hectares of land. However, it has failed to provide this,тАЭ Rahul Patil, deputy conservator of forests, told The Indian Express Saturday.
As per central government guidelines, if a proposal remains pending for more than five years, forest officials said, the deal stands cancelled. тАЬAs the PCMC has failed to provide the land in the last five years, we will have to cancel the deal. We have written several letters to the civic body reminding it about this,тАЭ Patil said.
PCMC officials, meanwhile, said they had provided the land to the forest department but the offer was rejected. тАЬWe had offered an alternative land of 61 acres in Mulshi taluka of Pune district. However, the forest officials rejected the land on the ground that it was not suitable for forestation,тАЭ said PCMC additional municipal commissioner Jeetendra Wagh.
Admitting that the land offer was rejected as it did not conform to central government norms, Patil said, тАЬThe central government takes the decision in this regard. The government rejected the land in Mulshi. And accordingly, we conveyed it to the PCMC.тАЭ
The PCMC has now approached the district collectorate. тАЬWe have urged the district collectorate to provide us an alternative land which can be offered to the forest department in lieu of the land which PCMC needs for setting up the garbage depot,тАЭ said Wagh.
The civic body desperately needs the 61 acres to set up its second garbage depot. The current one in Moshi, spread across 81 acres, has run out of space. тАЬThere are two reasons why we need another garbage depot. One is that the Moshi depot has run out of space. Another is that it will reduce transportation costs by a huge margin. We plan to use the Moshi depot for garbage generated from one side of the Pune-Mumbai highway. And the garbage from the other side can go to Punawale,тАЭ said PCMC joint city engineer Sanjay Kulkarni.
Civic officials said they have already paid Rs 3.75 crore to the forest department. тАЬWe have gone ahead with the deal. Once we get the land from the district collectorate, we will immediately offer it to the forest department,тАЭ an official said.
