NCP stands divided on biodiversity park

PUNE: A group of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporators have demanded that the party's leadership consider their views on the Biodiversity Parks (BDP) and allow 10% construction.

In a recent letter to deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar, they said: "The party should go by popular demand. People want 10% construction in the BDPs. Hills can be saved only if construction is allowed. If the government goes ahead with the BDP without allowing any construction, slums will come up and party will lose its mass base."

A group of NCP corporators, led by its leader in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Subhash Jagtap, recently approved a proposal to scrap the BDP by allowing 10% construction.

A faction, led by city unit chief Vandana Chavan, had strongly opposed the move.

They Corporators demanded that the BDP must be scrapped and 10% construction be allowed in this area as many small farmers will lose their land and the PMC has no mechanism to protect the BDP from encroachments. After a few years, the entire area will be full of slums and there will be no BDP, said these corporators.

Chavan has said there were some leaders who were deliberately creating a controversy over the BDP issue. "The issue has been cleared by the NCP leadership and the party supports the BDP. There is no controversy," she added.