CSMC demolishes 857 properties from Padegaon Road in 2 days

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

On Friday, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) continued its demolition drive for the second consecutive day on Padegaon Road. A total of 272 unauthorised structures were demolished during the day on Friday. Combined with the previous day, the total number of illegal constructions removed has reached 857.

The road has now been fully widened to 200 feet. The demolition operation will pause over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), and the corporation has scheduled its next drive on Monday, targeting encroachments along the Jalgaon Road.

The Padegaon to Daulatabad T-point stretch is a State Highway (SH), and within the municipal limits, its proposed width as per the Development Plan is 60 meters. Over the last 10 to 15 years, the municipal corporation has granted Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to many landowners along this stretch.

At present, the road is only 30 meters wide. The remaining 30-meter stretch, mainly in Padegaon and Mitmita, had seen extensive unauthorised construction. None of these structures had official permission from the municipal corporation.

On Thursday at 10 am, the demolition drive began in this area. On the first day, the corporation demolished 585 unauthorised structures, including both temporary and permanent buildings. Among them were more than 10 buildings with 2 to 3 floors each.

On Friday, the drive continued beyond Mitmita, and by evening, an additional 272 unauthorised properties were removed. Most of these included compound walls, gates, and small to medium-sized structures.

Municipal Corporation administrator G Sreekanth personally inspected the operation. Head of Anti-Encroachment Cell Santosh Wahule was also present.

The large-scale operation involved 350 municipal staff, 250 police personnel, 25 JCB machines, 5 Poclains, 15 tippers, 2 ambulances, 2 transport vehicles, 2 fire brigade trucks and 5 electric hydraulic vehicles.

Short extension granted to two parties

The area in front of Qadri Hospital was part of the road widening zone. Upon the hospital's request, they were granted a two-day extension to comply. Similarly, the compound wall and garden of the Fauji Dhaba were affected by the demolition. The owners requested permission to remove the unauthorised structures themselves, and based on that request, they too were given a short extension.

Demolition drive on Jalgaon Road on Monday

Due to Muharram on Saturday and Ashadhi Ekadashi-related events on Sunday, police will be deployed for security duties. Hence, the police suggested the municipal corporation pause the demolition drive for two days.

Accordingly, no action will be taken over the weekend. However, there is a strong possibility that the demolition drive will resume on Monday, focusing on widening Jalgaon Road to 60 meters.

On this stretch of road, there is a service road on the left side from Vasantrao Naik Chowk to Harsul T-point, but no service road on the opposite side. The demolition drive is being planned to make space for that. The road came into focus on the municipal corporation agenda after a traffic accident near the Ganpati Temple (in Cidco N-1) on Friday morning.