Latest news with #RiverRejuvenationProject
Indian Express
18-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Pune Municipal Corporation to open ‘war room' to monitor progress of civic works
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to set up a war room to monitor infrastructure projects. 'It is necessary to ensure that the projects are completed on time, the quality of work should be good, and projects should be made operational on time for the benefit of citizens. Thus, a war room is being set up for monitoring the projects,' said Pune Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram on Thursday. The war room will have a nodal officer of the rank of a deputy municipal commissioner to coordinate between the head of all civic departments and the municipal commissioner. 'The nodal officer will have to collect the updated information every 15 days on the status of projects from the respective civic department in charge and submit it to the municipal commissioner,' Ram added. The municipal commissioner said the war room will focus on getting projects completed on time, and if there are any hurdles in project implementation, then the issue will be raised with the government department concerned. The municipal chief further directed all ward offices and heads of civic departments to get Engineers India Ltd (EIL) to inspect the quality of development works. 'It is mandatory to do third-party quality assurance of civic development work above Rs 5 lakh. The PMC has an agreement with EIL for the period from 2022 to 2027. However, it has been noticed that it is not being strictly followed by many ward offices and civic departments. Elected representatives and citizens have been complaining about it,' said Ram. The project in-charges are either conducting third-party quality assurance through other organisations or the head of the civic department instead of EIL, he added. 'This is very serious and against administrative discipline. If it is not possible to do quality assurance through EIL in exceptional circumstances, then the permission to do it through another agency should be taken from the additional municipal commissioner concerned,' the Pune municipal commissioner stated. Ram also said that additional municipal commissioners should ensure that at least 10 per cent of total civic works executed in a year is randomly checked by the civic vigilance department and the report is submitted to the municipal commissioner's office. The PMC chief added that the project in charge or the department head will be held responsible if discrepancies are found. The Pune Metro, River Front Development (RFD), River Rejuvenation Project through soft loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the uninterrupted water supply project are among the prominent projects currently being implemented in Pune.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
HC junks plea against 9km riverfront development stretch after PMC word on maintaining compensatory plantations
Pune: The Bombay high court on Friday disposed of a PIL against felling and replantation of trees along a 9km Mula-Mutha riverfront development (RFD) stretch, from Sangamwadi bridge to Mundhwa bridge, after the PMC gave an undertaking to maintain the replanted trees properly. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) submitted that it had planted 7,469 trees till July 11 against phase-wise permissions granted between Oct 14, 2024, and Feb 24, 2025, by the PMC Tree Authority to cut 1,302 trees and replant 1,843 trees. The civic body also said it would ensure that these trees were maintained properly. The bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep V Marne said on July 11, "Needless to state that in case any further proposal is made to the Tree Authority for cutting of trees for the purposes of the project in question, petitioners shall be at liberty to raise an objection, if so advised." You Can Also Check: Pune AQI | Weather in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune Lawyer Abhijit Kulkarni, who represented the PMC, told TOI, "We brought to the court's notice that we have followed all the legal procedures. The PIL was filed in March this year as an afterthought against the permissions granted much earlier, only to stall the ambitious RFD project. It has an environmental clearance from the central govt's environment ministry." "As early as in April this year, we filed an affidavit-in-reply, bringing to the HC's notice that 60% of the project work had been completed as per permissions granted. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Se você sofre com dores no joelho. Leia isso antes que seja deletado Vida Sem Dores Hence, the PIL was an indirect way of blocking the project. This was the fourth attempt to stall the project in the name of environmental concerns," he said. Activist Shalvi Pawar and others had filed the PIL assailing the validity of Resolution No. 1/14/ permission passed by the chairman of the Pune Municipal Corporation's Tree Authority on Oct 14, 2024, on the ground that the same was in violation of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975. The petitioners pleaded directions to quash and set aside the approvals given on Dec 6, 2024, Dec 10, 2024 and Dec 11, 2024, by the assistant municipal commissioner, PMC, and to restrain the chairman, Tree Authority, from felling and replantation of trees for the RFD project. The PMC stated in its affidavit on April 27, 2025, "The permission to cut trees for River Rejuvenation Project has been considered by the PMC in phase wise manner. As of date, six permissions have been granted by the Tree Authority to cut a total of 1,302 trees and transplant 1,843 trees along around 9km length of the Mula-Mutha. Out of the said permissions, cutting of 997 trees and transplantation of 859 have been completed, and further work is in progress. Simultaneously, along with the cutting and/or transplantation of trees, the execution of the River Rejuvenation Project is also going on at the site." The PMC lawyer submitted on July 11 that the remaining trees had also been cut /transplanted after April 27, 2025, and the phase concerned of project had been executed.
Indian Express
02-06-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Fire audit of all hospitals soon: PMC commissioner
Newly appointed municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram on Monday said a fire audit of all hospitals in the city will be conducted soon to avoid any fire breakout. 'Any fire breakout in hospitals leads to major casualties. Hence, I have decided to conduct a fire audit of all hospitals in the city in the next 15 days,' Ram said. There are 19 civic-run maternity homes, 53 OPDs and two hospitals and 870 registered private hospitals in the city. Citing the slow implementation of the River Rejuvenation Project, the municipal commissioner said he would focus on improving the condition of Mula and Mutha rivers that cuts across the city while giving priority to citizens by listening to them and solving their grievances. 'The river rejuvenation project was proposed long ago, and I heard about it five years ago during my tenure as Pune collector. I want to speed up the project as it will change the city,' said Ram, who took over as commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation on Saturday. He said the Pune Metro project is another mega project on which he would be focusing to resolve any land acquisition issues. Drinking water is going to be a serious issue in the city due to urbanisation and hence its management will be given prime importance, said Ram.
Indian Express
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
All objections addressed, River Rejuvenation Project will not be halted: PCMC chief
During Sunday's protest in Pimple Nilakh area, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Anna Bansode, met the agitators on Mula river bank and said he will ask PMC and PCMC commissioners to stop the River Front Development project work. The project is estimated to cost Rs 275 crore and PCMC will be implementing it on a 20 km stretch in its jurisdiction. Currently, work on a 8 km stretch is underway. Environmentalists told Bansode about the 'illegal tree' felling in the city and the activities carried out under the 'guise' of the RFD project. Bansode said the 'illegal' tree felling under the guise of the RFD project was wrong and expressed concern over the fact that riverbed is being narrowed due to dumping of debris earth Bansode assured that an inquiry into the matter would be conducted, and discussions would be held with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers before making a decision on the project. When asked about whether Bansode spoke to him, the PCMC chief said, 'The Deputy Speaker raised the concerns expressed by the evironmentalists with him. I told him about the entire issue. About how the matter had gone before the National Green Tribunal, how enviromental clearance and amended environmental clearance have been received for the project. He was told about the NoCs received from the irrigation department also from central government institutes.' In light of past developments and all legal approvals and clearances, the PCMC chief said the project will go ahead. 'I have informed the Deputy Speaker about our stand,' he said. About the allegation from activists that around 40,000 trees along the riverbanks were cut down or destroyed under the pretext of transplantation, the PCMC commissioner said, 'I don't know where the figure of 40,000 trees has come from. Currently, we have undertaken work on 8 km stretch in Pimple Nilakh area. Here, we would be cutting down 300 trees. Some of them are invasive, exotic species which we will have to cut down. These trees are not in a position to be transplated. The government wants us to remove them. But we are compensating this loss by planting and transplanting trees four to five times. At least 1,000 trees will be transplanted. We will do our best to ensure that the green loss is compensated by a much high degree.' Singh said they have also changed the design at some places which will help save 700 trees. 'At some places, the design change, especially while constructing the bunding wall for flood control, will help save 700 trees.' Describing the project as River Rejuvenation Project, the commissioner said, 'It is River Rejuvenation Project not River Front Development Project.' 'No one is talking about the fact that we will be channelling the nullah water into our sewage treatment plants, and only after the water is treated, it will be released in the river. We are setting up STPs at several places where they were never set up. We are upgrading the existing STPs. In short, we are undertaking augmentation of the STP network. Besides, the drainage network is being expanded and overhauled,' Singh said. The activists project threatens to destroy biodiversity, narrow the riverbed, and increase the risk of flooding. 'These issues have been discussed threadbare with envirnomentalists before the NGT. We have addressed all concerns raised so far,' he said. The PCMC chief said he would again be holding a presentation and press conference on the issue to explain the project in greater details to journalists, citizens and activists.
