Pune forest dept to hand over food stalls at Sinhagad Fort on December 5
In an anti-encroachment drive on November 18, 2022, at least 135 stalls were demolished by the forest department at Sinhagad Fort
Almost after two years of action against encroachment, the forest department is now planning to hand over the authorised structures to food stall owners at Sinhagad Fort. In a programme held on December 5, at least 32 people will be handed over the food stalls by the forest department, said officials.
In an anti-encroachment drive on November 18, 2022, at least 135 stalls were demolished by the forest department at Sinhagad Fort. After the villagers raised employment concerns, the department sought multiple meetings with the gram sabha associations and the villagers affected. Upon conducting a survey through Google Maps and mapping the original stalls placed since the year 2000, it was found that only 71 of the 135 stalls belonged to local villagers from Avsarwadi, Sinhagad, Mardari, Kalyan Peth, Koliwada, Atkarwadi, Golewadi (Donje) and Kondanapur who earned their livelihood by selling food items in the fort premises.
Considering the situation, the forest department promised villagers to set up the authorised stalls to solve the employment issue of the villagers.
However, after the department had promised these villagers rehabilitation multiple times, it took over a year to kick-start the project. The work originally expected to be completed before the monsoon season this year was delayed by six months.
Now the stalls are ready for the handover and soon they will be given the authorised food seller, chosen by the lottery system, said officials.
Deepak Pawar, assistant conservator Pune forest department, said, “On Sunday, a final review was carried out at Sinhgad Fort. The stalls are ready to and we will soon hand over them to the vendors.”
The department has constructed 24 stalls in 6 units made out of steel and utilised previous structures in a food-vendor zone on land close to the fort acquired by the department from the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.
Previously, the division planned on constructing 56 stalls in 14 units, however after identifying that only 32 vendors needed large spaces for selling food items, they resorted to building stalls only for them. The remaining 39 stall owners will be placed on tables or small temporary structures. The primary stalls are 8 ft 10 ft in size and are foldable.