Civic authorities raze 36 illegal bungalows on bank of Indrayani river near Pune

Pune: Civic authorities in Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune on Saturday demolished 36 bungalows built illegally along the Indrayani River, an official said.

Acting on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), officials and personnel from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), along with a heavy police cover, reached the River Villa project in Chikhali village in the morning, he said.

Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh said the civic body razed the bungalows as demolition drives cannot be carried out during the monsoon.

Activist Tanaji Gambhire, who had moved the NGT against the project, said the villas were constructed along the Indrayani river’s blue flood line, where development activities are banned. A blue line represents the level of flood likely to occur in a river once in 25 years.

In July 2024, NGT had asked the civic body to demolish all these 36 structures within six months. The green court had also ordered that Rs 5 crore be collected collectively from the bungalow owners as environmental damage compensation.

The PCMC subsequently started the process and began hearings of the bungalow owners.

Meanwhile, 29 bungalow owners approached the Supreme Court, but the apex court rejected their appeal. The land and bungalow owners then approached the NGT to review its order. However, the NGT also rejected their review petition, said an official.

After getting no relief from the NGT, the property owners again moved the SC.

The apex court on May 4 disposed of the appeal and ruled that PCMC should implement the NGT’s order to pull down the bungalows and collect Rs 5 crore towards damage to the environment.

PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh told PTI that someone tried to create confusion that the SC on May 4 had given six months to the corporation to take action.

“The Supreme Court just reproduced the NGT’s order in its May 4 ruling. It was NGT that had given 6 months (to PCMC) when it ordered the demolition in 2024. Today (on May 17), complying with the orders, we demolished all 36 illegal structures,” he said.

Singh said they will now implement the second part of the NGT order concerning the recovery of Rs 5 crore from the bungalow owners.

“I appeal to all the people in the city to check the zone, where a housing project is located, the layout, approval, and do due diligence before going for any purchase,” he said.

One of the bungalow owners said he and others bought the plots from M/s Jare World and M/s V Square in 2018. “We got the plots transferred in our names by completing the registration process of the government,” he said.

The bungalow owner claimed that although there was no permission, some PCMC officials asked them to go ahead with the construction.

“I spent more than Rs 1 crore to construct my bungalow, and I’m paying an EMI of Rs 68,000 even today. Had the PCMC taken action against the first bungalow after its construction, today’s situation would not have arisen,” he added.