The record number of land deals, however, has not come without a cost. Land grabbing is a malaise has spread its tentacles across the entire district—whether it be Chakan where the international airport is to come up, Maval and Talegaon, the hillside terrain adjoining Lonavla where the rich and the famous have made a beeline or within the city limits. While there are the Development Plan and Development Control rules in place, suggesting that development is planned and under control, the facts are different. There is, in fact, a palpable fear that a huge land scam is waiting to be exposed.

If the biggest land scandal in Pune till date was the Kothrud TDR scam worth Rs 3 crore, recent incidents have put the focus on bogus powers of attorney of farmers being used to raise loans to the tune of Rs 340 crore and modifications in 7/12 extracts altering name of owners and size of land owned to benefit rogue builders, a scam that is estimated to be worth Rs 300 crore.

“I am shocked by the number and size of buildings coming up in the name of TDR (Transfer of Development Rights). But even a rickshaw driver can understand that such constructions will just put more load on the city's water, drainage. There is no one comprehensive plan for development,” says actor and former director of FTII, Mohan Agashe, who, in his column in this newspaper last year, called Pune “a schizophrenic city”.

Within the city are proven cases of constructions along the no-build-zone on the banks of Ramnadi—Pune’s parallel to Mumbai’s Mithi river—but no action is being taken against these illegal structures.

For the city, there’s no likelihood of waking up from this nightmare as the real estate sector is on fire and there are no signs of it cooling down despite one scam after another breaking out.

The scrapping of ULCA by the Maharashtra Government on November 29 will release 54,363 acres of land, of which 23,475 acres have been earmarked for construction activity. This, however, will not bring down the real estate prices since the new land lie on the fringes of Pune city. If at all, the availability of more land could affect prices only after a year.

Quick to spot a revenue opportunity, Pune Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi is now training his guns on the elastic sources of growth: real estate, IT and automobiles. But its mostly the first. “We are tapping into these double-digit growth sectors and will hike development charge collection (from real estate) from Rs 200 crore last year to over Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal. The results will be visible in city roads by June 2008,” says Pardeshi optimistically.

No Respite

The Pune Municipal Corporation was quick to come out of denial mode and admit that its conservancy staff was dying prematurely by the scores battling dirt and unclogging dirty manholes. But the confession is not the end of the troubles of the staff that cleans the city. The pace at which realty expansion is taking place will ensure there’s no reprieve for them. The frenetic pace also allows the builders to engage in rampant violation of rules and regulations, two instances having come to the fore only a month back.

What they Say

The land scams rocking Pune are a result of the confusion and lack of accountability in the PMC. It’s the same when it comes to roads and infrastructure. As for the escalating prices, Pune’s prices have gone through the roof because of the fault of the Central Government that has allowed FDI in realty.

Cyrus Poonawalla Chairman and Managing Director, Serum Institute of India

The key point for Pune is that there is no single ownership or responsible person for the city’s growth and certainly no vision on how the city should be different in the future. What we have in Pune is a fragmented responsibility between the mayor, the municipal commissioner, the divisional commissioner, the police commissioner and the MP.

Naushad Forbes, Managing Director, Forbes Marshall

We will increase development charge collection from real estate from Rs 200 crore last year to over Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal. The results will be visible in city roads by June 2008

Praveensinh PardeshiMunicipal Commissioner, Pune