Massive ₹3,000 Crore Scam? NCP-SP Slams Fadnavis Govt Over PMRDA Plan Cancellation

A day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis revealed that the Development Plan (DP) for the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has been scrapped, with a new focus on implementing the Town Planning (TP) Scheme, the NCP-SP in Pune protested against the scrapping of the DP at the collector's office on Tuesday.

The protestors expressed concerns that the cancellation would hinder the city’s growth and development.

Fadnavis was speaking at the inauguration of the 'Pune Urban Dialogue' event, jointly organised by Yashada, Barve Charitable Trust, the International Center, and Pune Municipal Corporation at Yashada.

Fadnavis underlined the importance of initiatives like ‘Pune Urban Dialogue’ to address the challenges faced by rapidly growing cities. He revealed that the Development Plan for the PMRDA has been scrapped, with a new focus on building a robust road network first.

“While developing new cities and settlements under PMRDA, the priority must be on creating large roads and urban transport infrastructure,” he said.

NCP-SP city head Prashant Jagtap said, "Under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the state government has decided to cancel the PMRDA DP, thereby pushing Pune district towards decline."

"By cancelling this DP, the state government has deprived the citizens of Pune district and surrounding areas of their right to development. Previously, during the preparation of the DP, the authorities and their intermediaries had committed large-scale fraud against farmers and builders, involving corruption worth around ₹3,000 crore," he added.

The DP draft was released on July 30, 2021, and people were invited to share their objections and suggestions. About 69,200 citizens responded. After that, an expert committee held hearings from March 2, 2022, to December 2022 to finalise the process.