Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar on Thursday lashed out at non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the city for allegedly causing harm to the environment and creating hurdles in the city’s development.
He was speaking during a discussion on the Environment Status Report (ESR) of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). A special meeting was organised under the chairmanship of mayor Mohansingh Rajpal.
Keskar said that the NGOs had demanded money from the PMC administration to draft the ESR at the last moment. The administration has been repeatedly following NGOs and it has caused serious damage to the environment of the city.
He said that between 1992 and 2011, many projects were introduced at the behest of NGOs, but not a single effective project for the improvement of public transport has been implemented in the city. The environment of the city would not improve without good public transport.
He said that the then municipal commissioner, Nitin Kareer, decided to implement the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in the city at the insistence of NGOs like Parisar. More than Rs1,400 crore has been spent on the project in the last five years, and expensive buses were bought for BRTS which are no longer useful.
He said the development plan (DP) for merged villages was prepared many years ago, but the NGOs played havoc with it in the name of a “Green DP” and it is still not approved by the state government. Ultimately, the deputy chief minister had to publicly request the chief minister to pass the DP in the interest of the city.
He said the state government should consult the PMC about the bio-diversity park rather than listening to NGOs. Former mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale said she agreed with Keskar, stating that the NGOs influence every municipal commissioner.
