By Sidhima Choudhary
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has cleared approximately 5,100 square feet (sq ft) of illegal encroachment from public areas and footpaths as part of its encroachment removal drive. The drive started on September 9. The encroachment comes in the light of PMC’s drive to clear footpaths and public roads, as it was facing various troubles.
Overall, PMC has cleared over 5,100 sq ft of illegal construction with over 97 handcarts, 66 sheds/huts, 90 counters and various other stalls and cylinders across five zones of PMC. The operation was led by Deputy Commissioner, Sandeep Khalate, with other zonal officials, engineers, police and encroachment inspectors.
The drive happened in various parts of Pune, starting from Nagar Road (Vadgaonsheri) to Aundh-Baner, Dhankawadi-Sahakarnagar, Hadapsar-Mundhwa and Kasba-Vishrambaugwada.
During the drive, the encroachment inspectors targeted the unsanctioned stalls and roadside vendors, removing their carts and stalls from the footpath, which the pedestrians complained had caused various problems. Whereas, in some cases, the vendors were found to have violated the license certificate terms by renting their stalls to others. They had also put up other shops outside the vicinity of the permitted areas.
Some food stall vendors were seen to be using gas cylinders amidst the busy, crowded streets, posing a danger to the pedestrians.
PMC later released the number of stalls cleared according to the areas.
- Vadgaonsheri = 15 handcarts and 13 counters
- Aundh-Baner = 42 counters and 10 cylinders
- Hadapsar-Mundwa = 14 stalls and 3 handcarts
- Kasba-Vishrambaug wada = 62 handcarts and 30 temporary sheds
An area like Dhankawadi-Sahakarnagar saw the maximum encroachments with 27 counters demolished.
Earlier this year, PMC had launched a full-blown encroachment drive in the Hadapsar-Mundhwa ward where the team targeted unofficial tin sheds, front and side margins and hawker stands in areas like Sasanenagar, Chintamaninagar, Mohammadwadi and Handewadi Road. During this drive, PMC had cleared 27,340 sq ft of construction by removing various stalls on 38 footpaths.