Police commissionerate for Pimpri-Chinchwad gets govt nod

The Maharashtra government today gave its approval for setting up a separate police commissionerate for the Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial township, located on the outskirts of Pune city.

The approval was given by the state cabinet at its meeting here.

At present, the Pimpri-Chinchwad township comes under the jurisdiction of the Pune police commissionerate.

There was a long pending demand for a separate police commissionerate for the township due to its rapid urbanisation and rising crime in the area.

In the recently concluded budget session of the state Legislature, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced that separate commissionerates would be set up for Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mira-Bhayander township (in Thane district) and Kolhapur.

Some areas that are at present under the jurisdiction of the Pune city police and the rural police may be included in the new commissionerate for Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Along with Pimpri-Chinchwad, the proposed separate commissionerate is likely to cover the areas of Chakan, Dehu Road and Talegaon-Dabhade, which are currently under the jurisdiction of the Pune rural police.

An official in the Chief Minister's Office said 2,633 new posts will be created for the setting up of the new commissionerate.

In other decisions, the Cabinet decided that MahaGenco, the power generation company of the state government, will be a partner with Chhattisgarh Rail Corporation Ltd and South Eastern Coalfields Ltd in the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to set up the Katghora-Dongargad railway route.

The Cabinet also decided to request Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to re-promulgate the ordinance pertaining to the direct election of sarpanchs and the amendment of the Hyderabad Atiyat Inquiries Act, since both the Bills were not passed in the budget session.

The Cabinet also approved revival of the Sriram Krishna Godavari Lift Irrigation scheme to provide irigation facilities to the drought-affected areas in Vaijapur taluka of Aurangabad district in the Marathwada region.