Draft DP by March-end, says commissioner Gitte

24/2/2019

PUNE: The Pune metropolitan region development plan draft is expected to be ready by the end of March. Outgoing PMRDA commissioner Kiran Gitte said 70% of the work had been completed.

Gitte, an IAS officer from Tripura cadre who was at the helm of PMRDA for three years, had joined Maharashtra cadre as Amravati collector in 2014. He will return to Tripura after his five-year term of special deputation ended on February 5.

As per the central government deputation rules, officers must return to their cadre after they complete their deputation. Gitte had handed over the additional charge of PMRDA to Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar in the first week of February. "It is as per the rules and I have to go back to my cadre, but it has been an eventful five years in Maharashtra," he said.

Gitte also said the draft master plan that will be finished soon, will give much-needed thrust to projects in the area. The PMRDA plan was prepared in consultation with Surbana Jurong, a Singapore government agency, after an MoU was signed earlier by the government. The plan covers the entire 7,357 sq km area for the next 50 years. With chief minister Devendra Fadnavis pushing this region as the "growth engine" for Pune, Gitte said the plan would implement the best global practices.

During his five-year tenure, Gitte said he was able to execute and give thrust to various development projects, which included town planning schemes, the Metro rail, the ring road and the hyperloop, as well as taking building permission plans online.

Among his achievements, Gitte was able to get enough manpower for the authority, stabilize its income and even get AA credit certification, have an online building permission system, prepare the master plan, the comprehensive mobility plan and take forward the Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar Metro and ring road projects. "The projects are necessary for the region. It would definitely improve the ease of living here," he said.