Ajit Pawar Waives Rs 116 Crore Land Transfer Cost for Pune Riverfront Project

Pune, 30th September 2025: Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has directed the district administration to hand over government-owned land required for the Pune riverfront development project to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) at a nominal fee, instead of the earlier demand of Rs 116 crore.

The riverfront improvement work is being carried out in phases along the Mutha river, from Sangamwadi to Bund Garden and Bund Garden to Mundhwa bridge. In the next phase, PMC plans to extend the project from Aundh to Wakad bridge. Pawar reviewed the project on Monday in a meeting attended by Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, Additional Commissioner Prithviraj B.P., and other senior officials.

During the review, it was noted that several parcels of land required for the Bund Garden–Mundhwa stretch were not in PMC’s possession. The land belongs to multiple departments, including Women and Child Welfare Development, Botanical Garden, Forest Department, and Conservation Department. In total, about 22.26 hectares of land is needed for reclamation.

The District Magistrate’s office had earlier demanded Rs 116 crore from PMC in exchange for handing over the land. Pawar objected to the demand, arguing that when government land is used for a government-backed public project, there should be no question of charging market value. He instructed that the land be transferred to PMC at nominal cost to ease the financial burden.

The land parcels include 0.77 hectares in Mundhwa (Survey No. 93) belonging to the Women and Child Welfare Department, 3.4 hectares of Botanical Garden land in Mundhwa (Survey No. 88), and 11 hectares in Koregaon Park (Survey Nos. 30 and 39) under the Forest Department. Additionally, 7 hectares in Sangamwadi fall under the Conservation Department, for which PMC has already earmarked Rs 32 crore.

In the meeting, the riverfront improvement project for the Rajaram bridge–Warje stretch was also discussed. Pawar suggested that PMC could seek Rs 300 crore from the state’s disaster management fund to support this expansion. He added that the proposal would be considered after reviewing the availability of funds in the Disaster Management Department.

The riverfront project, monitored directly under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s “war room,” is being positioned as a key urban development initiative for Pune, aimed at improving flood management, public spaces, and ecological restoration along the Mutha river.