Pune: PMC To Pull Down Board Put Up By Corporator Bhimale In Salisbury Park Garden
Pune, 25th April 2022: Assuring members of the Salisbury Park Residents Forum (SPRF), Pune Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar promised the delegation, that, he will consult his legal cell within the next three to four days and if found illegal, will pull down the board put by Corporator Shrinath Bhimale, which he has overnight put up on the night of 13th March 2022, violating PMC’s GR of 2000.
The corporator has renamed the garden after his father’s name and put up a board.
Vikram Kumar appreciated the relentless efforts of 72-year-old Gopesh Mehta, who was one of the main petitioners and said to the delegation that “I am very happy to note that because of your efforts, 70,000 sq ft of green space of the city has been saved. This is truly admirable.”
Kumar told the SPRF members who had gone to meet him today that he would go into details about whether there has been any amendment to the July 24th, 2000 government resolution (GR) since 22 years have passed by.
Faizal Poonawalla, Chairman SPRF handed him over a document wherein the Garden Department referred to the GR 2000 document as recently as March 2020, when it rejected the proposal of naming the Salisbury Park Garden after Bhimale’s father. Kumar said he would study these documents.
It has been four weeks since residents of Salisbury Park under the SPRF have been protesting peacefully for the removal of the illegal board. The SPRF had sent two letters to Municipal Commissioner Kumar earlier, requesting his action on this issue. However, no acknowledgement was received.
Chairman Faizal Poonawalla stated, “we are hopeful that Mr Kumar will give us justice as he has given us a patient hearing and has promised that he will strictly go by the legality of the issue.”
The SPRF delegation comprised Chairman Fizal Poonawalla, Gopesh Mehta, Vinita Deshmukh, Balsaheb Runwal and Shehnaz Chawla.
