11.4.12

PMRDA decision in 3 months

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that a final decision on the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) would be taken within three months on the basis of recommendations made by a study group appointed on the issue. The PMRDA, if formed, will cover an area of 2,943 sq km and include 397 villages apart from municipal areas. Meanwhile, the difference of opinion between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over who should head the PMRDA continues to be one of the reasons behind the delay. While the Congress camp wants chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who heads the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, to hold the chairmanship of the PMRDA, the NCP camp is pushing for the appointment of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to the post. Pawar is also Pune’s guardian minister. Replying to a calling attention motion on the subject in the council on Tuesday, Chavan admitted that difference of opinion over the chairmanship among sections was a bone of contention. He also said that there was a difference of opinion on what should be the structure of PMRDA. The PMRDA is to include areas which fall in the Pune Municipal Corporation limits, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Dehu and Khadki cantonment boards and peripheral areas. There is a differing view on whether the Pimpri-Chincwad New Township Development Authority would be merged with the PMRDA, Chavan said. There are also differing views on what should be the positions of mayors and municipal commissioners of the two corporations in the PMRDA, he added.

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