PMRDA snippets

The chief minister's positive statements have set the ball rolling for the Pune Region Development Authority(PMRDA). The state government will soon transfer some of its land in Pune district to the PMRDA to raise funds for its functioning and implementing the development plan (DP).
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis recently made it clear that the state would replicate the financial model of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in Pune. District guardian minister Girish Bapat said, "The state will not keep the PMRDA issue pending and you will soon see action on the ground. We are very much concerned about the haphazard development in the region. The state is keen to make the PMRDA functional."According to highly places sources in the state govern ment, the urban development department (UDD) will ask the divisional commissioner and the district collector to compile a list of vacant government land in the district and a plan to exploit it to raise funds. "If the PMRDA has to function independently it must have its own sources of revenue. It should not depend on the state for implementation of its plan.This model has worked well in Mumbai and we hope to emulate it in Pune," Fadnavis said at a function in the city on Thursday.
The PMRDA will undertake preparation and execution of town planning schemes -with regard to the draft development plan prepared by the metropolitan planning committee, carry out surveys in the development area to prepare town planning schemes and controlling the development activities.
In 1997, the government announced the formation of the PMRDA and the state assembly passed a resolution in its favour in 1999. The metropolitan planning committee (MPC), the planning body of the PMRDA, was already constituted. In April 2008, elections to the 30 member MPC were held. However, in the absence of basic infrastructure, such as office space, the elected MPC members were not able to do much and the term on MPC has expired. The elections to the MPC will be held once the state makes the PMRDA functional and appoints a special officer.