Grounding ‘Udta Pune’: Drugs crisis in the making for 10 years

Sharad Pawar has unexpectedly welcomed CM Eknath Shinde's directive to Pune municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale to use bulldozers to demolish unauthorised bars in Pune, saying the decision was correct but had come too late. Pawar says he has no problem with the move but the question to be asked is why in 10 years no one checked if bars and restaurants in Pune had the necessary permissions.
A week ago, while Shinde, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Pune guardian minister Ajit Pawar were facing flak over the alleged rampant use of drugs in the city, the CM asked Bhosale and police commissioner Amitesh Kumar to deal firmly with all errant bars and restaurants and ensure they are razed promptly.In the biggest ever action in Pune, the administration demolished a record number of restaurants and bars.
Leader of the opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, who cautioned against turning the city into 'Udta Pune', drawing parallels with the drugs abuse crisis and lax law enforcement in Punjab, feels that Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar must pull up erring IPS officials and bureaucrats. The contention is that for the last 10 years, Pune has been passing through a critical period owing to a lack of supervision. A former IPS officer feels that Pune appears to be in the grip of druglords due to the administration's failure to deal with the issue with an iron hand.
MahaRera's maha mandate
Hectic lobbying is on the post of the MahaRera chairman in place of veteran bureaucrat Ajoy Mehta, whose tenure ends this Sept. A high-level committee has shortlisted the names of three bureaucrats-outgoing chief secretary Nitin Kareer, former chief secretary Manoj Saunik and Mumbai Port Trust chairman Rajiv Jalota. During their careers, none of the three have worked in the housing sector.
Mehta, who, too, had never worked in the housing sector earlier, made his presence felt and gave sleepless nights to leading builders after taking over the reins of MahaRera. He legally empowered homebuyers with the introduction of standardised agreement for sale, allotment letter, mandatory declaration of size, place and height of parking lots, and date of availability of amenities. He issued detailed directives for homes for old age persons. Further, he directed builders to open dedicated bank accounts to ensure proper utilisation and monitoring of funds, maintain quality in construction, and conduct forensic audits.
A series of measures introduced by Mehta are now being followed by real estate regulatory authorities in other states. The biggest challenge before the new MahaRera chief will be take further the measures initiated by him.