Pune: Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is gearing up to revive the stalled Pavana Closed Water Pipeline plan, while also renewing efforts to provide civic jobs to family members of farmers injured in the 2011 agitation against the project.A senior PCMC official said, “Thirteen farmers were injured. The civic body has sent a fresh proposal to the state govt seeking approval to offer them jobs. Those eligible based on age and other recruitment criteria will be considered for employment. If not, a family member may be accommodated.”The state govt had rejected an earlier proposal saying it did not conform to existing norms. However, officials said that during a recent review meeting, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told the civic administration to submit a fresh proposal and assured that the long-pending demand would be addressed.The development comes ahead of PCMC’s renewed push to restart the 32-km Pavana Closed Water Pipeline project, which has remained on hold after three farmers were killed and several others injured in police firing during violent protests in 2011.Although the govt lifted the stay on the project in 2023, work could not resume as farmers continued to oppose it, claiming that several assurances made by the state were unfulfilled.The proposed closed pipeline aimed to reduce contamination in the existing open river system and supply cleaner drinking water to Pimpri Chinchwad. Civic officials said the project would also help save nearly 100 MLD of water lost through evaporation and seepage.Officials said providing jobs to those affected by the 2011 agitation has remained one of the key demands of the protesters and was being expedited now along with efforts to resolve other pending issues.Farmers from Maval have continued to oppose the project. They said replacing the open river with a closed pipeline would reduce or stop water discharge into the Pavana river, affecting irrigation for hundreds of small landholders downstream. They also said the govt was yet to fulfil its promise to allot two acres of land near the dam and another two acres elsewhere in the district to families displaced by the Pavana dam.
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