A day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cancelled Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's (PCMC) plan for a slaughterhouse near the temple town of Alandi. the civic administration Sunday said it had already decided to get the reservation changed and set up a “goshala” (cowshed) at the designated place. The PCMC administration also blamed the Development Plan Unit for the decision. “We had decided to get the reservation for the slaughter cancelled and get a reservation changed in favour of a cowshed,” PCMC chief Shekhar Singh told The Indian Express. The PCMC, in its draft development plan (DP), had made a resevation for a slaughterhouse on Dehu-Alandi Road in Moshi, which was just three km from Alandi town, which has a religious and spiritual significance. Singh said his decisions to get the reservation changed was based on the complaints he had received. “Also, it is a sensitive matter. The reservation should not have been done for the slaughterhouse at that spot. It is good that the Chief Minister had announced its scrapping.We too had decided not to get ahead with the proposed reservation. We failed to convey our decision to the people in a proper manner,” he said. The PCMC commissioner said the draft DP had been prepared by the Development Plan Unit set up by the state government. “The PCMC has no role to play. The DP Unit team surveys the areas and then takes the decision. Most of the decisions are based on the reservations done in the earlier DP,” he said Prasad Gaikwad, Deputy Director of Town Planning, who is on deputation to PCMC, said, “Our department had role to play in the entire episode. We do not intervene with the working of the DP Unit. I think the DP Unit has 20 members who are all from the state government. They themselves take the decision regarding where to put reservations.They did not consult us, neither it is mandatory for them to do so.” Gaikwad said that since protests have erupted, it is obvious that reservations have not been appropriately done. “But I am not the authority to speak about it. The DP Unit will have to explain it,'' he said. Despite several attempts, Anupama Kulkarni, the DP Unit chief, was not available for comments. Gaikwad said from PCMC's part, it had decided to write to the Planning Committee about the decision to scrap the proposed reservation. “Even if the DP Unit had made the reservation for the slaughterhouse, it had meaning only if PCMC had gone ahead with acquiring the land and initiating other actions. But we had no such intention, and therefore the slaughterhouse in any case would not have come up.” However, civic activist Sarang Kamtekar said,''Though the Chief Minister has made the announcement, it is easier said than done. Firstly, there is no written order from the Chief Minister. He has only made the announcement. The PCMC has invited suggestions and objections on the draft DP. After taking the suggestions and objections into consideration, PCMC will finalise the draft DP and then send it to the state government for approval. The entire process will take a minimum two to four years. I don't think the Chief Minister even has the right to scrap the reservation plan at this stage under the MRTP Act.” Kamtekar said, “On such a sensitive issue, the PCMC not acted tough or taken decision quickly. Now the government should take action against the DP Unit.'' The objections to the slaughterhouse plan had first come from former BJP corporator Seema Sawale, who is also former PCMC standing committee chairperson. Sawale had filed her objections with PCMC and also sent a letter to the Chief Minister, urging him to cancel the slaughterhouse plan near Alandi. MLA Mahesh Landge and several Hindutva organisations had also protested against the proposed slaughterhouse plan. Some citizens had even presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister after which he announced the scrapping of the reservation plan. “Last week, twice the PCMC plans were scrapped by the Chief Minister which is a major announcement for the civic administration. First, it was about the Town Planning scheme in Charholi and now the slaughterhouse plan near the temple town of Alandi. PCMC cannot shrug its responsibility regarding the slaughterhouse plan. This is because it did not promptly take up the issue with the state government after the DP Unit had made the reservation plan,” said activist Lahu Landge.
