PUNE: Civic authorities in Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune on Saturday demolished 36 bungalows built illegally along the Indrayani River, an official said.
Acting on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), officials and personnel from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), along with a heavy police presence, reached the River Villa project site in Chikhali village in the morning, he said.
Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh said the civic body razed the bungalows as demolition drives cannot be carried out during the monsoon.
Activist Tanaji Gambhire, who had moved the NGT against the project, said the villas were constructed along the Indrayani river’s blue flood line, where development activities are prohibited.
A blue line represents the level of flooding likely to occur in a river once in 25 years.
In July 2024, the NGT had ordered the civic body to demolish all 36 structures within six months.
The green court had also directed that Rs 5 crore be collected collectively from the bungalow owners as environmental damage compensation.
The PCMC subsequently initiated the process and began hearings for the bungalow owners.
Meanwhile, 29 bungalow owners approached the Supreme Court, but the apex court rejected their appeal.
The land and bungalow owners then approached the NGT to review its order. However, the NGT also rejected their review petition, an official said.
After receiving no relief from the NGT, the property owners again moved the Supreme Court.
The apex court on May 4 disposed of the appeal and ruled that PCMC must implement the NGT’s order to demolish the bungalows and collect Rs 5 crore towards environmental damage.
PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh told PTI that someone had attempted to create confusion by suggesting the Supreme Court had granted the corporation six more months to take action.
“The Supreme Court just reproduced the NGT’s order in its May 4 ruling. It was the NGT that had given six months (to PCMC) when it ordered the demolition in 2024. Today (on May 17), complying with the orders, we demolished all 36 illegal structures,” he said.
Singh added that they would now implement the second part of the NGT order concerning the recovery of Rs 5 crore from the bungalow owners.
“I appeal to all the people in the city to check the zone where a housing project is located, the layout, approval, and do due diligence before going for any purchase,” he said.
One of the bungalow owners said he and others had bought the plots from M/s Jare World and M/s V Square in 2018.
“We got the plots transferred in our names by completing the registration process of the government,” he said.
The bungalow owner claimed that although there was no permission, some PCMC officials asked them to go ahead with the construction.
“I spent more than Rs 1 crore to construct my bungalow, and I'm paying an EMI of Rs 68,000 even today. Had the PCMC taken action against the first bungalow after its construction, today’s situation would not have arisen,” he added.