PUNE: The civic body has halted all the reinforced cement concrete (RCC) construction works in its ongoing projects due to the shortage of crushed sand material.
The move spells the growing impact of the Pune District Mining and Crusher Industries Association’s indefinite strike since June 22 on constructions being carried out by govt agencies and private construction firms.
The meeting of association members with state revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil in Mumbai on Wednesday also failed to bring about positive results.
The association has been demanding the removal of the transit pass system, stating that the Bombay High Court, in different judgements earlier, had said there is no need for such a pass while transporting ‘finished goods’ from mines. However, the Pune district administration is still asking them to pay the charges in question.
The association is also protesting the fact that around 110 applications from Pune district, seeking renewal of mining lease, are pending with state govt for over a year. They claim there is no functional environment clearance committee in the state for the last six months.
Now, the members are demanding a single-window clearance system for these applications for mining leases.
Yuvraj Deshmukh, chief engineer of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), told TOI, “The ongoing development works across the city are affected due to this strike as the dead stock of material we have is already finished. RCC works are not taking place anywhere. Our staff is only carrying out other related works at the sites.”
Other bodies like Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro) said work is not affected yet.
Public works department (PWD) officials, meanwhile, said that their ongoing works are not impacted yet as they have dead stock of material for 8-10 days. However, if the strike continues for more days, they will have no option but to halt construction activities as well. “There are no ongoing road construction activities at present due to the monsoon, but we are still carrying out some repair-related works and building construction. There are no complaints of shortage of material by our staff so far, but if the strike continues, we will soon start facing the crisis as crushed sand is a necessity,” said Atul Chavan, PWD chief engineer.
Ranjit Naiknavare, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI)-Pune Metro, told TOI “The strike has resulted in stoppage of important construction works of our member sites and if it continues indefinitely, it will affect our timeliness. We are hopeful that authorities will resolve this.”
Yogesh Sasane, secretary of the protesting association, said that while the meeting with the revenue minister was positive, the strike will continue unless a govt resolution (GR) is released accepting their demands. “Another meeting is scheduled with the minister on Saturday or Monday, and we hope govt listens to our long-pending demands,” he said.
A similar strike by the association in 2022 lasted for almost two weeks, affecting construction of PWD and Pune Metro. Sasane said there are 8,000 vehicles for transporting material from mining and crusher industries in the district; each has a capacity of around six brass of material and takes at least two rounds daily to deliver the material. There are a total of over 400 crushing and mining units across Pune district.
