The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has undertaken a series of encroachment drives across the Shivajinagar-Ghole Road area to enhance civic order, cleanliness, and public convenience. However, the residents are still not happy with the results and say that the areas where the drive was held look the same.
According to PMC data, in January, the PMC took action against 465 illegal establishments at Fergusson College Road, 565 actions in February, 255 actions in March, 254 actions in April, and around 152 actions were taken against Fergusson College Road. The encroachment drive was conducted by fixing the monitoring points set up at key locations, like in front of the Congress Bhavan and Balbharti, opposite FC Road. In addition, mobile patrolling has been intensified throughout the jurisdiction.
A junior PMC official said, “As per directives from the central office, PMC has extended support to the Metro authorities at the Shivajinagar Civil Court Metro Station near Dengale Bridge. Unauthorised tin sheds and hutments in the vicinity were cleared as part of this initiative. Licensed vendors with pending dues were instructed to clear their arrears.”
Following the orders of the Additional Municipal Commissioner, the Health Department also assisted in conducting a deep cleaning drive at Shivaji Housing Society. Despite conducting multiple encroachment drives at FC, the residents still feel that no cleanliness or encroachment-free footpaths can be seen.
Santosh Bankar, head of the anti-encroachment department at PMC, said, “A comprehensive survey of street vendor zones was carried out. Licensed vendors with pending dues were identified and instructed to clear their outstanding amounts. Online complaints received from citizens were promptly addressed and resolved. As a result, dues amounting to ₹74,65,718 were recovered in January, and ₹11,43,250 were recovered from defaulters in February. We are continuing the drive to make the roads and streets encroachment-free.”
Sonal Tyagi, a student of FC College, said, “There is no improvement; you can see the food stalls right in front of the Gnaneshwar Mandir. It's everywhere; FC Road is filled with small stalls selling vada pav and other snacks. They should not just take action but should also keep a watch to ensure these vendors do not come back.”
'Yet it looks the same'
Prashant Khandare, a student of Ranade Institute, said, "We are troubled by the encroachment at FC Road. So many drives have been conducted in the past three to four months, yet it looks the same. The hawkers come back again. PMC should take some serious action against them. There is no fear of law and order. They collect fines, and after a month, they come back again to take fines. This is not the solution; there should be some strict measures to completely ban them."
Yuvraj Gatkar, a shop owner at Deccan bus stop, said, "Earlier, I had a shop on FC Road, and only licensed shops were operational, but the hawkers selling clothes on boxes are mostly illegal. PMC takes action against illegal hawkers, but sometimes there is a settlement between the civic body and the unauthorized hawkers, and therefore they come back again after a few days."
