Information obtained by The Indian Express using Right To Information shows that the state government and municipal corporations have been turning to the college demanding land for various projects and walking away with big chunks despite protests from the institute authorities.

ATIKH RASHID

One of the biggest green spaces in the heart of the city — the College of Agriculture campus — has shrunk by 119.72 acres in the last three and half decades, according to data obtained by The Indian Express under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. (One acre equals 43,560 sqft). The lost green space has been used variously for widening roads, building subways and offices, agriculture-related schemes and, most recently, for building a maintenance depot for the Pune Metro.

The College of Agriculture was set up in 1879 as a department linked to the College of Science (now the College of Engineering, Pune) and, later in 1907, became a separate institute. Back then, the campus sprawled over 150 acres.

In later years, as activities expanded, the campus grew to 569.91 acres — this included land at the college’s Shivajinagar campus, farms in the Ganeshkhind area, the dairy department in Khadki and research plots in Manjari on Solapur Road. Data shows since the eighties, the college has relinquished land for various projects of the state government, the Centre and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) but was rarely given land in compensation by government agencies.

The lush green college campus is not only popular with students who come here to study but is also a popular destination for nature lovers. The old stone college building is one of the most beautiful edifices in the city and the location for many a film shoots.

Documents show the college received no land in return for a 35,000-sqft land it gave for construction of a subway on the Pune-Mumbai Highway, a 12,670-sqft land for the widening of Mula Road, a 1,23,202-sqft land for further expansion of the road, a 52,267-sqft land for widening of the Pune-Mumbai Highway, a 25,220-sqft land for the widening of University Road, a 1,549-sqft land for shifting the Mhasoba Mandir following the construction of a flyover on University Road and a 26,900-sqft land for a pumping station.

In December 2000, the college gave 8.46 acres to Sakhar Sankul, the office of the sugar commissioner, but received no land in compensation. Besides, the college gave 30.66 hectares for setting up the Directorate of Floriculture, which comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). In the most recent instance, the college provided land for a maintenance depot of the Pune Metro, work on which started last year. The state government handed over 28.44 acres from the main campus of the college to the Maha Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) although the move was opposed by the college authorities.

Communications sent by the college authorities to the Maha Metro as well as the state government, obtained under the RTI Act, show that the college argued if the land was handed over to the Maha Metro, it would hamper expansion plans of the college as well as affect its current academic and research activities.

“Agricultural education involves experimental learning modules, which require practicals on the fields. Also, availability of land is one of the criteria for grant of funds by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. If we lose a major chunk of land, then these prospects will take a beating. shrinking of the area will affect the agricultural education model in the entire state,” states another communication sent to the principal secretary (agriculture) on March 24 last year.

The institute’s administration had also pointed out that a whopping 6,133 trees, part of the genetically pure mother plant orchards, would be felled to clear the land for the project. The state government, however, went ahead with the land acquisition, asking the Maha Metro to transplant the orchards elsewhere on the campus.

A closer look at the voting pattern among all nine municipal corporations out of ten (as BMC continued with ward system), shows that voters often chose to vote for a single party while choosing for all four members in a panel.

ATIKH RASHID

THE state government’s decision to go with a four-ward panel seems to have played a major role in the BJP’s unprecedented win in the municipal corporation elections. A little number crunching makes it amply clear that the panel system with an average voters count of 70,000-80,000 prompted voters to think in terms of parties instead of candidates while voting. With its continuing popularity in the state as displayed in the general and assembly polls, the BJP gained from the panel formations.

A closer look at the voting pattern among all nine municipal corporations out of ten (as BMC continued with ward system), shows that voters often chose to vote for a single party while choosing for all four members in a panel.

For example, in Nagpur out of total 38 panels with each having four wards, in 21 panels voters gave all four votes to a single party. In 19 of these 21 panels, winners were BJP candidates. This essentially means almost 70 per cent (78 candidates) winners of the total 108.

In Pune too, single party voting happened in 17 out of 41 panels, with the BJP winning 14 of them. In PCMC, voters in 14 out of 32 panels voted in this manner, out of which the BJP managed to win 12.

When the announcement about the four-ward panel was made by the state government last year, party leaders from the Congress, the NCP, the Shiv Sena and the MNS had expresed their reservations saying the decision by the Fadnavis government would affect them badly and give an edge to the BJP. They also alleged that the panel structuring was done as per the convenience of BJP candidates. All allegations of favour to the BJP were denied by the party as well as by election officials who played a part in delimitation.

However, political analysts like Chandrakant Bhujbal believe the new panel system played a considerable role in the BJP’s win. “I would give a 20-30 per cent credit to the four-ward panel system. The new panel system helped them encash the party’s popularity in addition to local factors. The larger panel and four votes per voter means that party assumes more importance than the candidates,” said Bhujbal.

As per Manasi Phadke of Ghokale Institute of Politics and Economics, the BJP party workers used the four-ward panel to mislead voters into casting votes to their party.

“We received several complaints from the voters that party workers were telling them that they have to vote for all four candidates from a single party, failing which their vote will be adjudged invalid,” she said.

Outrage was the overriding emotion in this power-loom hub, among families of those killed in the blasts, politicians, lawyers and those discharged by a court last month in the 2006 blasts case.

ATIKH RASHID

Not a surprise, legally wrong, calculated move. These were just some of the words that echoed in Malegaon on Friday after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) dropped the names of six accused, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, from its chargesheet in the 2008 blasts case.

Outrage was the overriding emotion in this power-loom hub, among families of those killed in the blasts, politicians, lawyers and those discharged by a court last month in the 2006 blasts case. The NIA move also triggered protests by local units of the Congress and Samajwadi Party.

The twin blasts occurred in the congested Bhikku Chowk on September 29, 2008, on the night of Shab-E-Qadr as residents were out shopping for Eid.

“Why is the NIA so keen to give Sadhvi and others a clean chit? You see the way we were treated despite the investigating agency not having a shred of evidence and now you see these people getting a soft treatment from the same agency and the government. But this hasn’t come as a surprise at all, this was expected,” said Raees Ahmad, who was among those discharged by a Mumbai court last month in the 2006 blasts case.

Nisar Shah, 35, whose father 65-year-old Harun Shah died in the blast, said the accused deserved punishment.

“My father had gone out for tea after offering namaz. He was badly injured in the blasts and died the next day. We don’t know much about the case, but I remember a woman in saffron clothes being arrested. If she has done it, she should be punished,” said Shah, a father of four who works as a labourer in a power loom.

“It’s a calculated move by the BJP government and we knew it was coming,” said Aseef Shaikh, the Congress MLA who represents the region in the Maharashtra assembly.

Freelance journalist Mubasshir Mushtaq questioned the NIA’s contention that the motorcycle on which the bombs were planted was linked to Sadhvi Pragya but she had not used it for the two years leading up to the blasts.

“She can’t be absolved of all charges at the investigation level itself,” said Mushtaq.

“This is similar to the argument adopted by Rubina Menon in the 1993 serial blasts of Mumbai. The elderly woman is behind bars for life for owning the Maruti van which was found abandoned at Worli with AK-56 rifles and hand grenades. She had also argued that she wasn’t using the car and didn’t know to drive,” said Mushtaq.

Lawyer Irfana Hamdani, who had defended some of the 2006 blasts accused, argued that the evidence against all accused in the 2008 case was stronger than that against the nine Muslim men who were discharged in the earlier case.

“There are at least a dozen CDs containing audio and video evidence which sheds light on the conspiracy and the role played by Sadhvi. There are also a number of documents, apart from the ownership of the bike which was used to plant the bombs. The law says that material and documentary evidence should weigh over the oral testimony of witnesses. If the NIA is giving her a clean chit, saying there are testimonies which support her innocence, then it’s legally wrong,” said Hamdani, who stays about 100 metres from the blast site.

The bungalow, which is being ‘renovated and refurbished’ by the Central Public Works Department, has doubled in size after a special exception was made to sidestep rules that limit the area of a former President’s house.

In April 2012, when she was three months away from the end of her term, then President Pratibha Patil gave up the palatial bungalow that was being built in Khadki, Pune,to serve as her post-retirement residence, after it got mired in controversy.

Subsequently, the Centre identified and allotted to her what was considered a rather modest bungalow named Raigad near Chatuhshringi Hills on Pashan Road.

It has now come to light that the size of this bungalow,which is being “renovated and refurbished” by the Central Public Works Department,has doubled in size after a special exception was made to sidestep rules that limit the area of a former President’s house.

In July 2012,when the Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) took possession of the bungalow which was the official residence of the director of police wireless it had a built-up area of 2,906 sq ft. During renovation,this has gone up to over 6,000 sq ft.

The President’s Pensions Rules, 1962, say that if a former President is provided accommodation on a leased property,the living area should not exceed 2,000 sq ft.

The MoUD has taken the bungalow on lease from the Maharashtra government on an annual rent of Re 1. Sources said that while MoUD was willing to pay rent at market rates,the state government decided to lease it “almost free of cost.

MoUD secretary Sudhir Krishna said an exception to the living area rule was made by the Union home ministry for Patil,who is expected to move in around mid-May.

“The rules were made by the home ministry and they have made a relaxation in this case. They have approved the construction plan of the bungalow. It’s their mandate. Our job is to construct what we have been asked to construct. The rule is there but a relaxation can also be made by the concerned ministry,” Krishna told The Indian Express.

Work on the bungalow started in December 2012 and the structure has since undergone a complete overhaul. Several new rooms have been added for Patil,her office and her staffers.

The house plan shows it has two bedrooms, a master bedroom, a living room, a lounge, a dining room,a dressing room,a library,a pooja room,a kitchen-cum-store room, a separate store room,a visitors lounge, an office for the ex-President,a porch,a covered courtyard,five toilets,an office for the personal assistant, five staff quarters, a security cabin, a guards room and a one-room-kitchen unit for the staffer.

A recreational ground will be developed on 5,670 sq ft comprising a lawn and other garden essentials. The total size of the plot is 56,239 sq ft and the CPWD tender said it estimated the cost of the entire renovation at Rs 1.03 crore. Officials refused to disclose the value of the final contract.

CPWD also issued a separate tender for horticultural at an estimated cost of Rs 6.66 lakh.

Under the agreement between the state government and MoUD,the bungalow will remain with the MoUD until either Patil or her spouse is alive. It will then be returned to the state government which has to pay MoUD the expenditure incurred on the renovation

Some college officials said that giving the President an unhindered sight of the new building from the approach road played an important part in cutting down the branches as they covered a good portion of the building.

ATIKH RASHID

President Pratibha Patil’s scheduled visit to the College of Agriculture,Pune,on June 10 to inaugurate its new building has proved costly for the green cover of the college,with the garden department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) granting permission to axe over 100 branches of 59 trees for security reasons.

Already, branches of about 40 trees mainly located in front of the new Centenary Building and on the approach road from the Mhasoba Gate to the building,perceived as a security threat,have been chopped off.

The college authorities had sought permission on May 31 and the garden department granted it the next day. The list of 59 includes 36 rain trees,eight neem trees,eight ashoka trees and two tamarind trees aged between 35 and 45 years. Of the 40 branches chopped off,many were healthy and leafy and had a diameter of 40 to 50 centimetres.

The decision was apparently taken by the college authorities following an inspection by University Vice-Chancellor and the college principal a week ago. “In our proposal,we submitted a list of dead and drooping branches of trees in front of the new building and on the road and said they needed to be cut off so that they do not pose a security threat to the President during her visit. The PMC garden officials inspected the trees and cut down branches according to their criteria. Our men didn’t even touch the trees,” said Dr B R Ulmekh, Associate Dean and Principal of the College. Ulmekh added that the college plants thousands of trees every year on and outside the campus.

Some college officials,however,said that giving an unhindered sight of the new building from the approach road played an important part in cutting down the branches as they covered a good portion of the building.

Preeti Sinha, assistant garden superintendent, garden department, maintained that her officials had inspected the trees and given permission for cutting down only dead and drooping branches. She,however,couldn’t explain as to how her office had given a blanket permission to cut 100 branches and not used their discretion to save at least some of them.

“The college had asked for permission for security reasons. The rain tree branches are generally weak and could fall. We only gave permission to cut branches that were probable threats,” said Sinha.

The new palatial building has been built by the college at an expense of about Rs 15 crore. The money came from the Rs 100 crore special grant given to the Mahatma Phule Agriculture University,Rahuri,by the Union Government in 2008-09.

High Court asked the College to transplant 21 trees, it transplanted nine, none has survived

The Agriculture College,which has a full-fledged horticulture department and professors with technical know-how,has failed to successfully transplant 21 trees as directed by the Bombay High Court.

The college had approached the HC in 2010 for permission to fell 67 trees that were on the sites planned for a centenary building and a new block for a girls’ hostel.

According to document accessed by The Indian Express under RTI, the HC on April 1, 2010, permitted the college to cut down 43 trees and directed it to transplant 17 for the centenary building. The court also allowed the college to fell three trees and transplant four from the girls’ hostel site.

The trees to be shifted from the centenary building plot were 13 mango (10 to 15 year old), two Tabebuia (10 years) trees, a Sindi and a jackfruit (10 years) tree. Four trees to be transplanted from the plot of girls hostel building were a 60-year-old Indian Coral Tree (Pangara), a 30-year-old Rain Tree, a 20-year-old tamarind and a 20-year-old jamun tree.

According to sources,only six mango trees were actually transplanted almost all of which are now dead due to neglect. The three trees that were transplanted from the girls’ hostel site are also dead.

A J Bhagat, assistant engineer, Agriculture College said, “We had appointed a professional agency for transplantation. Some trees were not fit for transplantation. Some died after they were transplanted despite us taking due care.” He said he was not aware if all the 21 trees were transplanted; the horticulture department was responsible for the actual work. Horticulture department officials, however,were not available for comment.

Sunil Kesari, garden superintendent and tree officer of PMC, said it is the responsibility of the college to look after the trees and ensure that they survive for at least three years from the date of transplantation. “If the trees have died before three years, then it’s a serious violation. We will send a notice to the college authorities,” he said.