Residents allotted flats through the Pune MHADA lottery at the 43 Private Drive project in Balewadi allegedly have no usable road to reach their homes, according to a report by Civic Mirror. The dispute has prompted Aam Aadmi Party youth wing leader Raviraj Kale to demand immediate action against the developer, the project architect and officials responsible for approving and accepting the housing units.
The MHADA flats are located in a separate building behind a commercial and IT building within the larger 43 Private Drive development. Civic Mirror reported that the access route shown during the project approval process has not been completed, despite the project receiving approval around three to four years ago and a completion certificate about a year ago.
Kale has alleged that residents have been forced to make repeated visits to the developer, Pune Municipal Corporation’s building department and the MHADA office for the past six months. According to the report, the route currently has locks, large potholes and overgrown vegetation. A wall has also been built by the society of another residential building in the complex, which maintains that the disputed road is an internal road and that MHADA residents have no right to use it.
Kale has demanded criminal cases against developer Sachin Bhandari and action against the architect for allegedly submitting incorrect information about the access route. He has also sought an inquiry into how the municipal corporation issued the completion certificate and how MHADA accepted the flats without confirming that a functional road was available. He warned that the AAP youth wing would launch a protest if the road was not opened immediately.
Bhandari, identified in the report as the developer associated with SS Properties, disputed the allegations. He said the four MHADA flats were constructed in a separate building on a roughly seven-and-a-half-acre plot and that the approved layout included a road and access route serving the building. He argued that the society was creating the obstruction and said a complaint had been submitted to the municipal corporation. Bhandari added that the project had been constructed according to the applicable rules and that action would be taken against the society if it continued blocking access.
The society’s chairman, Moreshwar Balwadkar, rejected the allegation that it was deliberately obstructing MHADA beneficiaries. He said the society had not been informed about the MHADA building or its access requirements when the building was constructed. According to Balwadkar, the demand to use the side margin of another building was incorrect and the municipal corporation should instead complete the nine-metre road shown in the development plan. He said only about 50 feet of work remained and questioned why MHADA accepted a building without an access road.
The dispute places responsibility for basic access across multiple institutions and project stakeholders. The developer says the layout provides a common route, the society says the municipal development-plan road remains incomplete, and the MHADA beneficiaries are reportedly unable to reach their homes through a usable public or internal road. The immediate demands before the Pune Municipal Corporation are to inspect the site, establish the approved access arrangement and determine how the completion certificate and handover were processed. Civic Mirror did not report a final municipal or MHADA decision on the demands.
