The residents of Mhalunge village near Balewadi have threatened to stop the renovation work of the stadium and other development works, under way here for the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) scheduled to be held in October this year. They allege that even after acquiring 132 acres of village land for the stadium, the village is deprived of basic facilities like water, roads and electricity.
A press statement issued by the Mhalunge village sarpanch Rekha Padale on Friday stated that the CYG will be held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium at Balewadi and infrastructure development, like construction of roads, is being done by the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations. "However, our village remains deprived of any development. This is despite the village having given 132 acres of its land for the construction of the stadium. Basic amenities like roads, water, waste water management and electricity are absent," states the press release.
"Mhalunge has a population of 20,000 people. Now, the labourers who are working on development works at Balewadi have also made Mhalunge their home. This has put immense pressure on the infrastructure here," said Padale.
Sarpanch Padale declared that villagers will stop all work at Balewadi, including renovation of the stadium, from Monday, May 12, and will continue the agitation till their demands are not fulfilled.
The villagers are demanding disbursement of funds for development of village infrastructure. "We would also stop the work of five star hotel coming up for the CYG," said Padale.
The villagers have submitted representation to Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, district collector, police commissioner and sports director.
Source: TOI, 10/05/2008
