Pune: After Guardian Minister Girish Bapat pulled up officials for not taking people into confidence at the time of implementing the Smart City project, citizens demanded inclusion of local experts and academicians in the ongoing planning process of the project.
The first Smart City meeting with various citizen forums and stakeholders was held on Wednesday at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Aundh office. Rajendra Jagtap, CEO of Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd, along with Sandip Kadam, Assistant Commissioner, Aundh zonal office and corporators from the area attended the meeting.
The various citizens’ forums raised demands for their respective areas. Girish Deshpande, Vaishali Patkar, Rupesh Junawane of Aundh Vikas Mandal spoke about problems of Aundh area.
The issue of saving trees on University Road, cleaning of the river in the area, installing incinerator were discussed.
Vijay Varangaonkar, Uma Gadgil, Sudarshan Jagdale of Baner Balewadi Residents Association spoke about issues related to Baner and Balewadi.
They raised many environmental issues such as making the area plastic free to the cleaning of Ram river in the area.
Ravindra Sinha spoke of issues related to Baner Pashan Link Road area. He said, “Incomplete work of Baner Pashan Link Road is a major issue for the area, so I have raised this in the meeting along with other issues such as cleaning of rivers, the plantation in bio-diversity park in the area, protecting Pashan lake from pollution.
Shaileja Deshpande, Pushkar Kulkarni from Jeevitnadi, Vasundhara Swachata Abhiyan spoke of environment-related concerns related to Mula, Ramnadi, Devnadi rivers and 200 hectares of hills in Baner Pashan area. Ravi Oswal from Aundh Vyapari Association spoke of problems related to parking and space acquired for road renovation.
Also, it was decided to hold a monthly meeting with citizens. Information on projects will be put up on the updated Smart City website from this week onwards. Citizens will be able to offer their suggestions and objections related to the projects. Citizens demanded to hold a public hearing before finalisation of the projects.
