Maha Metro | work stuck at Khadki, Army blames state government

Pune: On Tuesday the Indian Army blamed the Maharashtra government for the delay in sanctioning 10 acres of defence land in Khadki.  Which has stalled the work on the Pune Metro project in the area for 10 months, and also mention that the government had not offered ‘Equal Value Land’ for the required land.

The Army said that it had The fast-tracked the procedure for transfer of land, but the state government had not reciprocated the gesture by offering a suitable piece of land in lieu of the land sought to be acquired, said the Army. The Army further stated that Pune Metro project is one of the very important infrastructure projects underway for Pune city. The importance of the project and has fast-tracked the procedure required for the transfer of defence land for this project. The Army is much more concern for it wherein the proposal has already been submitted to the Ministry of Defence and is under consideration for the grant of permission to commence work.

The Army also said the state government was not following the policy vis-a-vis transfer of land. The government policy requires the state government to offer suitable Equal Value Land to the Ministry of Defenc therefore, the proposal can only be progressed once the Equal Value Land is identified and offered by the state government. We are hopeful that the state machinery will accord adequate priority to ensure the timely offer of Equal Value Land to ensure the development of the project.

The Brijesh Dixit, managing director of MahaMetro said that they should suggest a piece of land which they require in a particular area. The land is vacancy will be checked, whether it is in possession of the state government and whether it can be transferred without any delay. Unfortunately, the Defence Ministry has failed to point out any particular piece of land in lieu of the land which metro need.