A few days back, the footpath at Kalyaninagar Metro Station in Pune was completely encroached by Panchsheel Avenue developers. They had not left an inch for the pedestrians to walk. The issue was highlighted by the social activist Sarang Yadwadkar on X (formerly Twitter). Following the complaint, action was taken by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the encroachment has now been removed.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Yadwadkar said, "I was going for a meeting, taking the metro on May 3 when I got down at Kalyani Nagar station. While walking on the footpath, I saw that it was barricaded by a commercial building. I had to get down on the main road to navigate and cross that barricade. I spoke to the guard there, he connected me with the legal department of the company, and they said that they have the permission from the PMC to build on the footpath. On the next day, I went to the police chowky at Ramwadi, and the official further instructed me to go to the Yerawada Police Station. I filed the complaint and posted it on social media, and the post went viral. Finally, when I went again to the same spot on May 5, I saw a few workers removing the barricades from the footpath. As of now, it has been removed. But what is concerning is that if I had not made that complaint, nobody would have bothered to even notice that it was illegal. That spot was the very same spot where the infamous Porsche incident took place last year."
Meanwhile, an official from the PMC department told this newspaper, "We have removed the encroachment as soon as it was reported. The footpath was encroached on just a day or two before the complaint was made. Therefore, it was not noticed, but we do keep a check on footpath encroachment and take strict measures."
