The demolition work would be completed in the next four days, said Sanjay Kulkarni, executive engineer of the environment department of the PCMC.
The width of the river is 200 meters and the bund is 120 meters in length. The civic body will demolish half of it and replace it with a new bund with two collapsible gates which can be opened when required, said Kulkarni.
Civic officials said the partialdemolition will prevent pollution and growthof water hyacinth. The construction of the new bund will enable the civic body to flush out silt and floodwaterswhen required.“Theexisting bund has two iron gates which have rusted. There has been heavy accumulation of silt near the bund,” officials said.
Local corporators from Pimpri,Kasarwadi,PimpleGurav, Pimple Saudagar and Kasarwadi had earlier demanded thatstagnantwater near theexisting bund be flushed out. The dairy farm bund belongs to the defence authorities, who were reluctant to allow its demolition. But after several meetings with the civic officials they havefinally relented.
“Thedefence authorities require five million litres per day (MLD) of water in the peak summer season for the cultivation of fodder crops. The civic body hasofferedthem thetreated water from the nearby sewagetreatment plant(STP) atKasarwadi to meet their needs. The new bund will enable the civic body to flush out stagnant water, which had become a breeding ground for mosquitoes,”Kulkarnisaid.
Meanwhile, PCMC has also started demolition of one more bund near Sangviwhichwillbe followed by another smaller bund in the same area.
Source : Times Of India 07.06.2013