Plot off Ahmednagar highway to be exchanged for Bopkhel bridge project

PUNE: The district administration has agreed in principle to transfer a land parcel off Pune-Ahmednagar Road to the defence estates office in exchange of the defence land required for the Bopkhel bridge project.
In September last year, the defence ministry had granted an in-principle approval for transfer 16,122sqm defence land to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which will construct the approach road and bridge connecting Bopkhel village with Khadaki Bazaar and the old Pune-Mumbai highway.
This was subject to the PCMC providing a land equal in measure and value to the defence establishment in consultation with the local military authority. “We have agreed to hand over 73 gunthas land near Dunkirk Lines in lieu of the defence land we have acquired for the Bopkhel village bridge. A proposal to this effect was submitted to the state government a fortnight ago. Our officials, in consultation with the defence authorities, will complete the remaining process,” district collector Naval Kishore Ram told TOI on Wednesday.
In July, the PCMC had awarded the tender for the project to a private contractor. “The project worth Rs 55 crore will be completed by 2021. The contractor is moving his inventory to the work site,” PCMC commissioner Shravan Hardikar said.
Till May 2015, the villagers in Bopkhel had access to Dapodi via the College of Military Engineering (CME) campus. The CME cited security reasons to close this road and the Bombay high court dismissed a petition against the closure. The villagers have since been seeking construction of a bridge to avoid an inconvenient detour for reaching the highway.