State Committee to Launch Drone Surveys

Even after two decades, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has failed to acquire any of the 976 hectares of land reserved for the Biodiversity Park (BDP) across 23 merged villages, except for a portion used for the Chandni Chowk flyover.

- Siddharth Gadkari

Faction contented that the party lost it to BJP in 2019 elections and had a better candidate in Chandrahar Patil, a wrestler who became popular after winning the state wrestling championships. Congress leaders strongly opposed it, but gave in to his aggressive demand. Local Congress leaders, however, supported party rebel Vishal Patil, who won by defeating the sitting BJP MP Sanjaykaka Patil. Chandrahar came third.

PUNE:

A state government-appointed committee on Friday decided to carry out a drone survey to get a clear picture of encroachments on BDP areas.

The reserved BDP land includes 124.45 hectares of government and 853.09 hectares of privately owned land.

The BDP was planned to protect Pune's hilltops and slopes — often called the city's "lungs" — but remains mostly a plan on paper. Illegal constructions and encroachments have continued to spread, with officials admitting that nearly 10% of the reserved land is already encroached upon.