30.11.13

Of Pune's BDP reservation....

The state town planning (TP) department will start hearing suggestions and objections on the Biodiversity Park (BDP) reservation in 23 villages merged in the Pune city limits on Saturday. The hearing will go on for nine days.
After their merger in 1997, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) took eight years to prepare a DP, which was sent to the state government on December 12, 2005. In December 2011, the state government approved the DP, but chief minister Prithviraj Chavan avoided a decision on the BDP.
The draft DP recommended that about 1,600 hectare in these fringe villages (mostly hilltops and slopes) be reserved for BDPs. This includes 978 hectare of privately owned land while the rest is government land. The civic body has to acquire the private land by paying its owners compensation.
With politicians across party lines demanding 4-10% construction in the BDPs and environmentalists opposing it, Chavan had appointed a sixmember committee headed by KB Jain, dean, faculty of doctoral studies, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad. It recommended that the BDP reservation on the hills, forest and other green areas in these villages stay. It suggested that the PMC execute the BDP as ‘mission development’ since it will improve the quality of life in Pune city.
The state government accepted the Jain committee report in 2013 and issued a notification. The NCP, headed by Vandana Chavan, had then submitted suggestions supported by 14,000 citizens which recommended the BDP. During the first hearing of DP for 23 merged villages, citizens had filed about 86,000 suggestions and objections, of which over 82,000 had supported the BDP.
After hearing suggestions and objections the state TP department will submit its report to the state government, which will seal the fate of BDP.

No comments: