Army move to stop work on bridge is high-handed: PMC
Sakaal Times: The general body of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday crossed swords with the army, alleging that it was stalling the construction of the new Holkar bridge on frivolous grounds and holding up the development projects in the city.
The general body will take a final decision over the issue at its meeting next month.
Raising the issue at the general body on Wednesday, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vikas Mathkari said there was no apparent reason for the army’s confrontational attitude. “In fact, not all of the land where the construction is going on belongs to the defence ministry,” Mathkari said, wondering why the special project cell at the PMC, overseeing the work had completely withdrawn from the area.
Terming the army’s decision as high-handed, elected members of PMC, participating in a debate at the general body meeting, said everyone at the corporation should gear up to sit for a hunger-strike in front of the army headquarters here.
The Army has stopped the ongoing construction of the Rs 62 crore eight-lane new Holkar bridge, running parallel to the existing one, eight months ago, in a bid to put pressure on PMC to build it a Rs 22 crore flyover linking two of its campuses across the bridge.
Leader of opposition Aba Bagul, Ujjwal Keskar and Anil Bhonsale too expressed grave concern over the army’s attitude, saying the decision does not augur well for the city. They also lamented that the army was trying to point fingers at the PMC for stoppage of the work.
Keskar in fact, said this was nothing but blackmailing on the part of the army.
“In fact, the municipal corporation must file a case against it for obstructing its work,” Keskar said.
Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhonsale said if the army had introduced any terms and condition after providing the no-objection certificate for the construction, they must be rejected outrightly.
The army is demanding that the municipal corporation build a flyover joining its two campuses across the bridge and a hostel for war widows as part of the land compensation package.
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