EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MAY 30

CULTURAL Affairs Minis-ter Sanjay Deotale has calleda meeting of Shiv Sena andMNS leaders next week toquell the opposition to with-drawal of 50 per cent conces-sion for Marathi films andTV serials in Film City.

The Marathi espousingpolitical parties had on Mon-day warned they would notpermit any film shoot atFilm City in Goregaon if thegovernment doesn’t restorethe concession to MarathiTV producers. Both theparties had given a 48-hour

deadline to restore the con-cessions.

Deotale defended the deci-sion stating the concessionwas meant only for Marathifilm producers and not TVserials as per the original de-cision. He said he had calledfor a detailed report fromFilm City officials.

“The decision to giveconcession to Marathifilms was taken in 1992.There was no mention of

TV serials. We will have toformulate some rules forserials now,” he said.

Deotale said there wereissues regarding funding ofand concession to Marathifilms, which will also be dis-cussed at his meeting withthe leaders. “We will workout a solution. They havewithdrawn their aggressivestand. I have assured them Iwill look into the matter,”he said.

CHANDAN HAYGUNDE

(KHUDUPDEWADI) SATARA, MAY 30

SEVEN roads allegedly constructed ille-gally under the National Rural Employ-ment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) by

government agencies in villages in KoynaWild Life Sanctuary (WLS) are being probedby the state forest department. Besides, theforest department recently (May 16) booked abusinessman, Nitin Menon of the Menon Pis-tons Limited, for alleged illegal constructionon his private land and destruction of wildlifehabitat in Khudupdewadi village in KoynaWLS, part of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve.

The office of assistant conservator forest(ACF) in Koyna Nagar registered an offenceagainst Menon under the Wildlife (Protec-tion) Act 1972. According to the forest de-partment, a Bombay High Court (HC) orderdated October 18, 2010 has banned construc-tion of roads and RCC structures in the sanc-tuary area. Also, as per a Supreme Court or-der dated February 14, 2000, suchconstruction is not permitted even on privateland in the sanctuary area. “We found cementconstructions on Menon’s private land inKoyna WLS in Khudupdewadi village. Thework has been stopped. We would take up thecase before judicial magistrate (first class) inPatan court legal aspects and taking opinion ofgovernment lawyers,” said ACF M M Pandi-trao of Koyna. Menon was not available forcomment. His estate manager Pradeep Moresaid, “We have not made any new construc-tion. The said land was purchased from vil-lagers a few years ago. There are a few oldhouses here. We are just doing renovationwork after seeking all permissions from gov-ernment agencies.”

“It is not a commercial work. We are doinga lot of tree plantation at the spot. The roomswould be used as godowns for keepingsaplings and material needed for plantation.We stopped the construction on receiving theforest department notice,” said More.

When The Indian Express visited the spot,

a group of labourers, most of them residents ofnearby villages, was working at the site close tothe water body in the forest area ofKhudupdewadi. There is no access to the siteby roadways. A labourer said constructionmaterial was brought by motor boats.

Interestingly, the forest department hadregistered the offence against Menon afternature activist Nana Khamkar of Karad fileda complaint on May 11 with the PrincipalChief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), WildLife, Nagpur .

“The state government, in an affidavitfiled through the chief secretary, had assuredthe Bombay HC that there are no construc-tions in Koyna WLS but despite the HC ban,seven illegal roads were constructed besides aprivate RCC structure. It certainly disturbswildlife. We requested the PCCF to instructthe director of the Sahyadri Tiger Project totake action against the authorities who sanc-tioned these works inside the Koyna WLS,”said Khamkar. ACF Panditrao said, “An in-quiry has been initiated and notices have beenissued to Gram Sevaks to know how the per-missions were granted for the seven roads un-der NREGS in Koyna WLS. The sarpanchsof the villages would also be questioned.”

Sources said permission for NREGSworks were obtained from offices of the BDO

and Tahsildar of Patan taluka, Satara. PrahladHiramani, the Tahsildar of Patan, said he wasaware of the roads and the inquiry initiatedby the forest department. “Only the smallpathways used by villagers that already ex-isted were widened under NREGS. No newtar road is under construction,” he said.

A Khudupdewadi villager said, “The forestdepartment recently stoppedthe road work. The govern-ment should either give usroads and facilities or rehabil-itate us at a good place out ofthe forest area as early as pos-sible. We have to walk longdistances even for basic needs.We get our ration by boatonce a month.”

(Report written under the aegisof CSE Media Fellowship)

MAHARASHTRATheIndianEXPRESSwww.indianexpress.com

3PUNE l THURSDAY l MAY 31 l 2012

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, MAY 30

THE court of AdditionalSessions Judge V K Shewaleon Wednesday framedcharges against SantoshMaruti Mane, the driver ofMaharashtra State RoadTransport Corporation(MSRTC) bus that moweddown eight persons and in-jured many others in themorning of January 25 this

year. The crime branch ofPune police filed thechargesheet.

Meanwhile, Mane’s lay-wer Dhananjay Mane hasfiled an application seekingthe footage of the incidentfrom two regional newschannels. The court directedthe police to give the footageto Mane’s lawyer. The courtalso ordered that the prose-cution file all evidence in thecase by June 21.

Mane, who was then at-tached to the Swargate busdepot, had taken an MSRTCbus from the parking lot ofthe depot around 8 am onJanuary 25 and had driven itat high speed for about 45minutes for about 15 kilome-tres, hitting vehicles andknocking down peoplekilling eight of them. About30 persons were injured inthe incident. Mane’s familyhad claimed he was mentallyunstable and was under psy-chiatric care of a doctor inSolapur.

Mane was booked undersections 302 (murder), 307(attempt to murder), andother relevant sections of theIndian Penal Code.

CourtframeschargesagainstMane

In Koyna sanctuary, 7 NREGS roads,private construction defy court ban

The private construction and (Right)An alleged illegal road under NREGS inKhudupdewadi in the sanctuary area

Row over concession to Marathi films:Deotale to meet Sena, MNS leaders

Mane had drivenan MSRTC bus at highspeed for about 15kilometres, hittingvehicles and knockingdown people killingeight of them