Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
On Saturday, the municipal corporation’s anti-encroachment squad, backed by a strong police presence, demolished 101 encroachments obstructing the proposed 24-metre wide road at Kanchanwadi. Of these, 63 were permanent structures while 38 were temporary constructions. With this operation, 2 km of the road has been cleared, and municipal corporation authorities are expected to commence road construction shortly.
Vehicles coming from Paithan had previously had to navigate a narrow village road from Gut No. 42 on Paithan Road through Kanchanwadi to the Solapur–Dhule Highway, up to the Walmi junction. Large-scale encroachments had reduced the width of the road, though the municipal corporation had already acquired parts of the land. The Town Planning section had issued notices to the affected property owners three months ago, but the owners did not remove the structures voluntarily.
The anti-encroachment operation began abruptly at 10 am on Saturday. Using six JCBs, two tippers and electric hydraulic machinery, officials demolished permanent and temporary houses, shops, sheds, compounds and outhouses. There was some initial resistance, but the operation proceeded after explaining the necessity to the property owners.
Under the guidance of coordinating officer Santosh Waghule, a team of 60 civic officers and staff and 40 Satara police personnel carried out the operation. By 2 pm, all 101 properties had been removed. The exercise was overseen by deputy commissioner Savita Sonawane, assistant commissioner Archana Rajput, police inspectors Krishna Shinde and Sanjay Suradkar, building inspector Mukesh Khadse and Vinod Desai, deputy engineer (Town Planning) Shivaji Lokhande, and Nagarik Mitra Pathak.
Road work in 10 days
The municipal corporation has already approved the tender for constructing the 2 km stretch from Kanchanwadi to the Solapur–Dhule highway. Removing the encroachments was essential to begin the work. Authorities have said that road construction will start within the next ten days.
Property owners emotional
Some property owners had built two-storey permanent structures on the 24-metre road alignment. Large portions of these buildings were affected, and during demolition, some owners were seen in tears, while a few faced serious disruption to their households.