PUNE: Six proposed town planning (TP) schemes, spread over 1,000 hectares in Pune Metropolitan Region and to be implemented by Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority, are not likely to take off till year-end as the state govt is yet to clear the proposals.
Five of them are planned along the proposed ring road and the sixth one is related to Maan-Mhalunge, which was showcased as a model scheme in the 2019 assembly polls.
“Proposal for Maan-Mhalunge was recently revised and submitted. The other five had been submitted more than nine months ago. The govt is yet to give final approval to any of these. As assembly polls are likely to be announced soon, the projects will not be implemented till year-end,” a senior official from Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) said.
Recently, in-principle approval was given to 15 more town planning schemes in the cleared PMRDA budget.
The six schemes — Maan-Mhalunge, Vadachiwadi, Autunde Handewadi, Manjari Kolwadi, and two at Holkarwadi — are being planned on the Gujarat model where landowner gets back 50% of the developed land. The Central govt has announced infrastructure funds for these schemes. Authorities said the delay in clearing proposals is hampering the development of the areas concerned.
Maan-Mhalunge was the first town planning scheme to be proposed by the state govt. The draft development plan for the remaining five in Pune Metropolitan Region was cleared early in January, pushing forward the projects along the proposed 82-km ring road and paving the way for development work on nearly 5,000 hectares.
The project at Vadachiwadi will come up on 134.79 hectares while the one at Autande Handewadi will be on 94.44 hectares. One of the two schemes at Holkarwadi will be on 158.19 hectares and the other on 130.78 hectares, while Manjari Kolwadi will be on 233.35 hectares.
Due to the delay in sanctions, citizens who will have to part with their land for these schemes are no longer sure about the implementation. Suraj Soni, a resident from Manjari, said the delay would mean that no project would take off this year.
Officials said the delay by the state govt would further delay the allocation of Central funds towards infrastructure. The Central govt is expected to sanction Rs 25 crore each for the five (barring Maan-Mhalunge) town planning schemes, while PMRDA has allocated Rs 125 crore for these projects.
