Congress set to shoot down fly overs proposal

PUNE, Nov 23: The major proposal of construction of five fly overs on the Mumbai-Pune highway stretch in the Pimpri-Chinchwad limits is like...

PUNE, Nov 23: The major proposal of construction of five fly overs on the Mumbai-Pune highway stretch in the Pimpri-Chinchwad limits is likely to be taken up for discussion at the civic general body meeting on Monday.

The standing committee of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), early this month, had rejected the proposal, but sent it for discussion at the general body meeting. The issue assumes significance as the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation had not made public its offer to construct the fly overs at their own expenditure, when the standing committee had rejected the proposal. State Public Works Department minister Nitin Gadkari had made the announcement and even held discussions with the elected office-bearers of the Pune Municipal Corporation regarding the fly-over projects in Pune.

The PCMC standing committee had rejected the proposal on the grounds that the estimated cost of the five fly-overs was highly inflated. According to the MSRDC estimates, the cost was Rs 115 crore, but the corporation felt that the cost could be reduced up to Rs 60 crore.

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The five fly-overs on the highway are to be constructed at Nashik phata, Pimpri chowk, Chinchwad chowk, Akurdi (near Khandoba temple) and Lokmanya Tilak chowk at Nigdi.

Mayor Hanumanth Bhosale was of the view that the corporation would be willing to give the work to MSRDC if it incurred the expenditure. He said that the construction of fly-overs was necessary, but at the same time the estimates of the MSRDC were highly inflated.

Shiv Sena MLA Gajanan Babar said the corporation does not have any choice but to allot the work to the MSRDC. If the ruling Congress rejects it on any grounds, public pressure will mount and the party will have to accept the MSRDC proposal.

Commissioner Ganesh Thakur said that the corporation was awaiting the offer from the MSRDC that it was willing to incur the expenditure.

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The MSRDC proposal to construct flyovers in Pune metropolitan area is likely to get the approval from the Pune Municipal Corporation. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Congress softened their stand on the issue.

Maharashtra Vikas Aaghadi founder Suresh Kalmadi was convened a meeting of the party corporators on Saturday to discuss the proposal. Party sources said MVA would support the proposal since its objection of inflated project cost was now irrelevant following Gadkari’s announcement that MSRDC would bear all the expenses.