Opposition parties strongly condemned the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) move of initiating the process of changing the reservation of a seven acre land in Katraj from a playground for a dairy business on the instructions of the state government.
Citing that the playground was needed by citizens living in the area, Opposition leaders said that by taking such a decision, the state government also went against the Supreme Court which had passed a judgment on retaining the reservation of the land as a playground.
The land plot in Survey no 130 to 133 was handed by the state government to Katraj dairy a decade ago for its expansion but the civic body reserved the land for it to be used as a playground.
Opposition parties – Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) – on Tuesday staged a protest against Guardian minister Ajit Pawar and the PMC for initiating the process of changing reservation of playground in Katraj. City Congress chief Arvind Shinde said Katraj area is densely populated and there is no vacant land for a playground, other than the one reserved by PMC. “The dairy firm should be moved out of the residential locality,” said Shinde.
The AAP too condemned the move stating that if the land reservation changed, it would take up the issue in court to flag how the PMC is committing contempt of court by going against a previous order of the Supeme Court on reserving the land as a playground.
On Monday, NCP MP Supriya Sule said she was against the change in reservation of the land in Katraj, citing the need of a playground for citizens living in the area.
In 1969, the state government allocated 20 acres of land to the Cooperative Milk Producers Federation for Katraj dairy. The district administration transferred the ownership of the 15 acre land in the name of Katraj dairy in 2013. The cooperative milk federation has already filed a case in court to get possession of the entire 20 acre land as was allocated by the state government in 1969.
In last few years, the dairy handed over four acres of land to the PMC for road development alongside its boundary. The PMC, while preparing the development plan of the city, reserved seven acres of land –in possession of Katraj dairy–for a play ground, leaving only four acres for Katraj dairy. “The federation is the cooperative of milk producing farmers of 11 talukas. The reservation of land should be changed for the dairy industry,” said Bhagwan Pasalkar, chairperson of Federation.
Officials from the PMC said, “We have initiated the process of changing the reservation of the land from a playground to a dairy…A report in this matter will soon be submitted to the state government.”
