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Indian Express
17-05-2025
- Indian Express
PCMC starts razing 36 structures in Chikhli near River Indrayani for violating environmental laws
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Saturday started razing 36 structures in the River Valley Society constructed within the blue flood line of the Indrayani River in Chikhli. The PCMC action took off around 6 am following the Supreme Court's upholding of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order on May 5. The NGT had in July last year declared 29 structures illegal, ruling that they had been constructed by violating environmental laws. The NGT had also imposed a Rs 5 crore fine on the residents for causing environmental damage. The residents had then approached the Supreme Court, which had first stayed the NGT order but then upheld it on May 5. During the demolition drive against the 29 structures, the PCMC also started razing seven other structures that purportedly violated the green laws. 'We have employed two JCBs and 14 poclain machines,' said Makrand Nikam, City Engineer, PCMC, who supervised the demolition action. A strong posse of the Pimpri-Chinchwad police ensured security for the civic team. Nikam said there was little resistance from the residents when the drive started in the morning. 'As most of the residents had moved out with their bags and baggage by late yesterday (Friday) evening, there was little resistance to the drive. Nobody tried to stop the drive,' he added. Asked why the PCMC did not stop the construction activity when the structures were being built, Nikam said, 'We had twice served notices to the residents telling them that they cannot construct the structures without authorised civic permission. The first notice was served when they had just started constructing the structures. Even later, we had served another notice. But they did not stop their construction activity.' When asked what action PCMC will take against other such structures constructed within the flood line, Nikam replied, 'I will have to carry out a survey… I won't be able to tell the exact figure now.' Shekhar Singh, Municipal Commissioner, who also arrived at the spot around 10.30 am, said the PCMC has taken action as per the directions of the Supreme Court. 'We will also initiate the process to recover Rs 5 crore cost from the residents as per the apex court order,' he added. Asked why the PCMC could not wait till the monsoon got over, the commissioner said, 'We had to take the action now as during monsoon we cannot raze structures.' The PCMC chief emphasised that they had not misinterpreted the Supreme Court order as alleged by some local residents. 'The SC has reproduced the NGT order. The NGT had given six months to PCMC to demolish the structures. Since the residents had appealed in the Supreme Court, we were waiting for the final order…' he said. Urging the residents to cross-check with PCMC and other government departments before purchasing a plot or a house, the commissioner said, 'I appeal to the residents to cross-check… whether the civic body has given building permission or not, whether the layout is approved or not… Only after they have cross-checked thoroughly, the residents should go ahead with the deal.' Asked what action the PCMC will take against those civic officials who allegedly demanded a bribe from residents to allow them to carry on with their illegal construction activity, Singh said, 'If this has happened as alleged by the residents, then it is illegal and a criminal act. The residents should come forward and complain against them. They should tell us the names of the officials. We will file an FIR against them and get them arrested.' The commissioner said he was also pained to take the action. 'However, it is also a warning to other residents to remain extra alert and not indulge in such illegal purchases,' he said. Mahesh Patil, one of the residents who led the fight of the River Valley Society residents, broke down as he watched his house being demolished. 'I had invested upwards of Rs 1 crore in purchasing the plot of land and in constructing the house. I had taken a loan and invested all my savings… I thought I got my dream house. But today it fell to the ground. Everything has turned into dust,' he said. Patil said they tried desperately to get the PCMC to postpone its action due to the impending monsoon. 'We met several MLAs and MPs. We met PCMC officials, but none of them helped us. We wanted to explore one last option of a curative petition in the Supreme Court. But that also did not happen,' he said. Asif Shaikh, another aggrieved resident, said, 'My family invested all our savings into purchasing the plot and constructing the house. We were misled into purchasing the house by the developer and the builder. They had put up boards, saying the plot of land was in the Residential zone, and, therefore, all of us purchased it and got trapped in this shady deal.' Shaikh said he was a Muslim and was now finding it difficult to get even a rented accommodation. 'We had earlier faced problems in finding a flat, as societies don't want Muslims. We thought we would have our separate bungalow. Even that has now turned to dust. We tried to look for a rented flat, but no one is giving us a rented flat as we are Muslims,' he said. Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
Indian Express
16-05-2025
- General
- Indian Express
PCMC hardens stand, says will demolish all 36 illegal structures today
A day before it demolishes 36 illegal bungalows which fall within the blue floodline of Indrayani river in Chikhli area, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation hardened its stand, rejecting desperate pleas by the aggrieved received to get its action postponed till the monsoon ends. Civic officials said, come what may, they will demolish the structures based on the Supreme Court ruling on Saturday. 'We are ready to demolish the 36 bungalows tomorrow. The Supreme Court has given the final verdict in the matter. Our action will begin at 7 am on Saturday. We have positioned our JCBs and other equipment for the purpose. We will be taking police help to carry out the drive,' PCMC City Engineer Makrand Nikam told The Indian Express. In July last year, the National Green Tribunal had first ordered the PCMC to demolish the structures as they violated the environmental laws. The NGT had also imposed Rs 5 crore cost on the residents for damaging the environment. When the residents appealed in the Supreme Court, the apex had first stayed the NGT order but later upheld the NGT order as well as the costs imposed. Nikam said 29 residents had approached the Supreme Court. 'In all, there are at least 35 illegal structures besides one resident who has constructed the structure up to the plinth. All the 36 structures will be razed tomorrow,' he said. Nikam said the affected residents had even gone to the Bombay HC to get the civic action stayed today. 'As per our information, their plea has been rejected by the high court. There are no hurdles now,' he said. When asked whether PCMC was prepared to postpone the action in view of the persistent demand from the aggrieved residents as monsoon was approaching, Nikam said, 'We will go by the Supreme Court order. The SC has upheld the National Green Tribunal order of July, 2024 to demolish the structures.' Meanwhile, a day before the demolitions, residents were busy packing their household items and other material and transporting them to either relative's homes or rented accommodation. With PCMC officials severing water connections and MSEDCL disconnecting power connections, the aggrieved residents say they are left with no choice. Ganesh Khule, who had invested Rs 1 crore in buying the 1.5 guntha plot of land and constructing the two-storeyed structure said, 'We have been urging the PCMC to give us some time at least till monsoon gets over. Even the Supreme Court order says PCMC should carry out the demolitions within 6 months of the uploading of its order on May 9. Then why is the PCMC in such a hurry? Does it not have a heart for its own people?' he said. Jayant Patil, another resident, said, none of the residents have found alternate permanent accommodations. 'Most of the residents had either sold their old homes or jewellery. Now we don't have a roof over our head. I doubt any one of us has another accommodation,' he said. Former MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil said, 'I am trying to get in touch with the Chief Minister to get the action postponed as it has been raining for the last few days and the residents have nowhere to go. Besides, the Supreme Court has given six months time to PCMC to carry out the action.'
Indian Express
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
After SC dismisses review petition, PCMC gets ready to raze 34 illegal bungalows in Chikhli
THE Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will finally demolish the 34 illegal structures in Chikhli area which had been constructed in the blue flood line area of the Indrayani river flowing through its jurisdiction. The decision has been taken after the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition filed by 29 residents. 'We have a received the copy of the Supreme Court order. We will now decide the date of demolition after discussing with the police as we will need police security for the action,' PCMC city engineer Makrand Nikam told The Indian Express on Monday. The hearing in the matter was held on May 5 and the Supreme Court passed the order on May 9. Nikam said they had decided to demolish the structures last year but since the residents had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court after the National Green Tribunal order and had stayed the civic action, they waited for the outcome of the court hearing. 'In all, there are 34 illegal structures which are constructed within the blue flood line of the Indrayani river. Twenty-nine residents had approached the Supreme Court. We will be demolishing all the 34 structures,' Nikam said. When asked as to why the PCMC didn't take action when it knew that the structures were coming up close to the river, Nikam said,'When we realised that the structures were being constructed within the blue flood line, we had served notices to the residents. But the residents pleaded that we should not act against them on humanitarian grounds…Finally, the matter went to the National Green Tribunal, which on July 2, 2024, directed the removal of these structures.' Mahesh Patil, one of the aggreived residents, said, 'As per our information, the Maharashtra Water Resources Ministry has directed the PCMC to conduct a fresh survey of the blue flood line. However, the PCMC is refusing to conduct a fresh survey. We have been pointing out that the blue flood line has been wrongly marked. Not just our own structures, there are hundreds of structures which are in the blue flood line as per the current markings. Even PCMC's own sewage treatment plant is in the blue flood line. Then why is the PCMC targeting only us ?' On being questioned about this, Nikam said, 'We recently held a meeting with officials of the Water Resources Department. They didn't ask us to conduct a fresh survey. They said whatever is mentioned on their website vis-a-vis blue flood line is final. As for the STPs coming within the blue flood line, we are allowed to construct them as per norms.' Last year, when the NGT bench directed the removal of the structures, it also imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on the property owners as environmental damage compensation. 'The builder will have to pay this compensation. If he refuses to pay, we will have to approach the courts again,' said Patil. Patil said the Supreme Court has given a six months' deadline. 'We are hoping that PCMC would not immediately carry out the action till our demand for a re-survey of the blue flood line is met. If in the re-survey, our structures are found to be illegal, we will ourselves demolish them. We still feel some of our structures will be saved once the a fresh round of survey is done,' he said. Stating that residents had put in their hard earned money in the project, Patil said, 'We have constructed the structures on one or two gunthas of land. We are from middle class and poor middle-class families. We have put in all our hard earned money in the project with the hope of owning our dream houses. Now, our dreams are on the verge of being shattered. We have no clue what to do in the current circumstances.' The project, River Villa, was set up by VSquare in 2021. Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Time of India
Cops bring back Rs 40 lakh of Rs 1.82 crore woman scientist lost after digital arrest
Pune: said this week they've returned Rs 40 lakh to a city-based who was forced to transfer Rs 1.82 crore to fraudsters last year after they placed her under ' '. It was 2025's first recovery of any money lost in a digital arrest case from the city, officials than 100 bank accounts were frozen by investigators on the case as they tracked a trail of money transfers made by the crooks. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The woman scientist, a 64-year-old resident of Erandwane in the city, had made three transfers between Dec 19 and 26, to send the Rs 1.82 crore. This sum, officials said, was broken down by fraudsters into smaller amounts and sent to many more bank accounts. Police began their hunt for a money trail soon after the case was filed on Jan 1 this year."As part of the money trail, we discovered over 100 bank accounts with money still in them. After freezing these accounts, we managed to retrieve the cash. And last week, after permission from court, we returned Rs 40 lakh to the scientist," said inspector Yashwant Nikam of the Cyber Police said the scientist, a retiree, spent four days at home under digital arrest. "She was only allowed to step out to go to the bank, from where she made the money transfer. The suspects claimed they were from Mumbai cyber police and had threatened her, claiming her Aadhaar and SIM cards had been used in 12 cheating cases. They made her sit in front of her laptop and told her to transfer the money, to 'settle' the 12 cases," Nikam the investigation, the inspector said sleuths from Pune cyber police used certain software to uncover layer after layer of bank transfers made by the fraudsters. "We started with the first three bank accounts that were given to us by the scientist. The software gave us details of the accounts and we then wrote to the bank, asking it to freeze all the suspicious accounts that were allegedly used by the fraudsters. This way, we managed to get more than 100 accounts frozen, all part of the suspected money trail," Nikam said, adding that search was underway for more of the scientist's money."We are still tracking these bank accounts. Another Rs 5 lakh will be handed over to the victim in the next few weeks," Nikam cash recovery in the scientist's digital arrest case was reported days before another development on Tuesday evening, when cops investigating online share fraud managed to return Rs 51 lakh to a central govt employee from Lohegaon. Police said the victim had lost Rs 85 lakh in total to fraudsters last April. In this case too, more than 200 bank accounts were frozen after cops discovered a money trail, officials said.
Hans India
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Ujjwal Nikam condemns Pahalgam attack, draws parallels with Mumbai 26/11 terror
Mumbai: Senior public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, renowned for his role in securing convictions in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, on Thursday strongly condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which terrorists targeted and killed civilians after asking their religion. Drawing parallels with the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Nikam said such tactics aim to incite communal violence, but asserted that these efforts will never succeed in India. Speaking to IANS, Ujjwal Nikam expressed deep anguish over the brutality of the attack. 'I strongly condemn this inhuman and cowardly act. The way the terrorists targeted innocent tourists, asking their religion before killing them, reminds me of the 26/11 attacks,' he said. 'Back then, during the attack on the Taj Hotel, Kasab and his associates followed a similar pattern. They asked guests about their religion to decide their fate. One man even lied about his faith to save his life, but when his wife's phone rang, the truth was revealed. He was brutally beaten and nearly killed, until the National Security Guard commandos intervened.' Nikam said the intent behind such attacks is to spark communal riots. 'Just like in 26/11, the terrorists in Pahalgam wanted to incite hatred and division. But the people of Mumbai, Maharashtra, and the entire country responded with unity. We stood together then, and we will stand together now. These divisive tactics will never work in our country,' he told IANS. Commenting on the emergency Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nikam said the government's response so far is just the beginning. 'The country has only started to respond. The Prime Minister even cancelled his scheduled events in Saudi Arabia and rushed back. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has expressed deep concern, and arrangements are being made to bring back affected tourists,' he added. Nikam also noted the international support India is receiving. 'Even US President Donald Trump conveyed full support to PM Modi. This shows that India is no longer willing to tolerate terrorism.' Referring to the Prime Minister's statement that India will pursue the perpetrators 'to the ends of the Earth,' Nikam expressed strong confidence in the government's resolve. 'PM Modi has made it clear -- there will be no safe haven for terrorists. After the abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir was moving toward peace and development. This attack is a desperate attempt by Pakistan-backed groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba to derail that progress. But they will not succeed," he told IANS. While remaining tight-lipped about potential military or covert responses, Nikam hinted at strong retaliatory action. 'No government will disclose its exact strategy on camera. But I am confident that the action taken will be strict and decisive. India is not a soft state. We will not tolerate the murder of our citizens, and the world will see that,' he concluded.
