PWD wants offices of state govt to shift out of private premises

Officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) recently submitted a proposal to the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, requesting him to shift all the 79 state government offices in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad to vacant government plots.

Currently, the offices are located on private plots and the state spends nearly Rs 2.5 crore a month as rent on these offices collectively.

Ball in his court: Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. File Pic

"For the past several years, government plots have been lying vacant in Yerawada, Queen's Garden, Hadapsar and Kharadi and we made a proposal to shift the offices to these vacant plots," PWD executive engineer Atul Chavan said. "This will not only save the government crores of rupees, but will also prevent government land from being encroached upon."

Chavan said while the plot in Yerawada was about 78 acres, while in Queen's Garden, Hadapsar and Kharadi it was five acres each.

"We had spoken to Pawar on this issue in the past and he was ready to allocate funds for construction of administrative buildings on these vacant plots," Chavan said.

Child Development Project (Officers), Joint Director of Co-Operatives, Civil and Criminal Court and Deputy Director of Sports and Youth Service are some of the offices located on private plots in the city and its vicinity. u00a0