PUNE: Opposition party members, including from the Congress and NCP, protested against the High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) project. Nagarik Kruti Samiti (NKS), the citizen group, organised a meeting at the Nehru Art Gallery on Monday.
It invited corporators and leaders from the opposition asking them to demand the scrapping of the proposal. Activists associated with NKS have been demanding the scrapping of the HCMTR project because it is not suitable for sustainable development and would destroy valuable water recharge zones of the city.
The HCMTR project, which is being pushed by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), will have an elevated six-lane inner ring road connecting Bopodi-Pune University Junction-Paud Road-Satara Road-Kondhwa Road-Solapur Road-Nagar Road-Vishrantwadi. The meeting was attended by leaders and corporators from Congress and NCP.
Congress leader Ramesh Bagwe, said, “The HCMTR project will cause problems. The 40-year-old project will not be sustainable today. It will create a traffic mess in the city. Therefore, we will protest against this.”
Sushma Date, civic activist and a member of the Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Samiti, said, “This is a complete misguided attempt in development. The way PMC is compromising with the environment is completely wrong?.”
Details of legal complications involved in the project were presented before the corporators and leaders from the opposition. NCP MP Vandana Chavan said, “Our corporators have been protesting against this proposal. After this meeting, we will try to consider people’s opinion on this matter and accordingly, we will decide the further course of action.”
