Bund to be broken over 20 metres

the pune municipal corporation (pmc) has decided to blast open the 20-metre central section of the 150-year-old bund at the bund garden within a fortnight. a decision to this effect was taken at the joint meeting of civic officials, irrigation department officers, corporators and environmentalists on tuesday, said pmc's deputy city engineer madhav latkar, who was deputed by the municipal commissioner to brief the press about the proceedings of the meeting.bjp corporator vijay kale, who was present for the meeting and who had tabled a proposal for desilting the river stretch by breaching the bund, confirmed that the meeting decided to demolish the central section with immediate effect and implement a rs 3.5-crore plan for desilting the mutha. interestingly, environmentalist vijay paranjape, who attend the meeting, said no decision to this effect was taken at the meeting. he claimed that municipal commissioner ratnakar gaikwad gave an assurance that a plan would be prepared for desilting the mutha and unless all technical and financial sanctions were sought from the general body meeting, the plan would not be implemented. when contacted, additional municipal commissioner, capt. ashok deshpande, supported paranjpe's argument and said there was no immediate plan to demolish the bund. according to latkar, a study had revealed that a huge amount of silt had accumulated near the bund, which was aggravating the mosquito and hyacinth problem. he said the pmc would undertake a year-long programme to remove the silt. the central section would be reconstructed, he affirmed and pointed out that the water sport activities would be affected only during this year. in the second phase to be undertaken next year, the pmc will blast an another 20-metre section near the garden and will construct a well to attract the water flow towards it. while this portion will not be reconstructed, the pmc plans to put up gates there. e qe uyew*t &: uIgiaEqenuy&: e &: u e , &: u®gaDeru&ƒ O } I!134 A‑Ž‑® o =I!r ‹ ‹ ‧&£\U‹ObI!&C ?ayyA‹Uel‧‹DŠ ,@‧uA ‹‑) Ut6ŽA&‹‑ ƒut ŽA'iI! edi rashm