Despite Hinjawadi falling in her Lok Sabha constituency and her speaking about the deterioration of the area’s infrastructure on several occasions, Baramati MP and NCP-SP Working President Supriya Sule wasn’t invited to the crucial meeting convened by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the problems besetting the IT hub in Mumbai on Thursday.
However, it appears that the government has accepted her suggestion of appointing a single nodal officer to coordinate the functioning of various civic, traffic and district authorities, even though she wasn’t invited.
During the meeting, Fadnavis asked the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to prepare a plan in a coordinated manner to solve all the problems – including traffic jams, encroachments, flooding, and drinking water – affecting Hinjawadi. He directed the preparation of a comprehensive plan to solve various problems and complete the works on time and insisted that priority should be given to providing good services to the citizens through the available resources.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Fadnavis wrote, “To ease traffic, the Kaspate Wasti to Hinjawadi Phase 3 road will be developed as a dedicated corridor with all roads upgraded to cement concrete. Pending projects like Mahalunge IT City will be prioritised, and land acquisition for widening will be carried out fairly, in consultation with public representatives. A decision on six-laning the Hinjawadi Elevated Road is expected within 15 days. Key routes like Surya Hospital to Maan Gaothan will be widened, east-west connectivity strengthened, and plans for a Shivajinagar-Hinjawadi corridor, a public transport hub at Wakad-Balewadi, and footpath encroachment removal were also directed. Drainage and flood management plans will be finalised by next year.”
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, MoS Madhuri Misal, Chinchwad MLA Shankar Jagtap, Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge, and Bhor MLA Shankar Mandekar were present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, NCP-SP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase condemned the government and said it was the duty of the government to invite elected representatives to the meeting. “When issues of public interest arise, and especially when the issues are related to a constituency represented by an MLA or MP, the government must invite them to any such meeting. The government cannot take unilateral decisions without consulting local representatives. This is against the principles of our Constitution. But this government has the habit of bypassing the Constitution. We strongly condemn the government’s attitude,” he said.