Members of the Pimpri Chinchwad Chamber of Industries, Commerce, Services and Agriculture have written to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, objecting to conversion of industrial properties to residential ones in their zone over the last few years. Members of the organisation of industrialists from the twin cities claim such conversion is allowing developers to build residential structures in industrial areas, which is ultimately affecting both residents and industry members. Organisation president Appasaheb Shinde stated in the letter to the CM that there are at least 126 such properties that have been converted from industrial to residential since 2007. He further claimed that the conversion of usage of properties is happening in areas where there are only industrial units. "In some areas where these properties are being converted, big residential towers of more than 10 floors have been built by developers; people have even started shifting into these. Since the buildings are surrounded by other industrial units, which are still operating from the said locations, it is creating problems for both parties," he said. Shinde further claimed that this development will obstruct investment in Pimpri Chinchwad, because industrialists do not want to set up their units in residential areas. According to him, the plots are being converted by violating norms and are part of MIDC's reserved zone for industries. He said they were given to the owners on lease by MIDC for 99 years, which is still ongoing. However, a senior Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) official clarified that while the properties ? for which applications for conversion from industrial to residential use were approved ? are indeed located in the industrial zone of PCMC, they are not the leased lands of MIDC, since the civic body has no authority to convert usage of MIDC properties. The PCMC city engineer, Makarand Nikam, explained to TOI, "Whenever we receive such an application, our teams survey the property to check if there is an industrial unit there. If yes, we ask the owner to get a certificate from the labour department stating that there are no pending dues of labourers who were working here and accordingly, we approve the application. However, if there is no industrial unit in place and the property is still registered as industrial, we can approve the application immediately."He further said that the conversion only happens in cases where industrial units are shifted out of Pimpri Chinchwad, adding that there is no increase in such applications. "Only those areas where there were already industries were marked as industrial zones in the development plan (DP)," he informed. However, Shinde pointed out that there are over 8,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) units across the twin cities and over 10 lakh people are employed in these. "If the administration does not take steps on this issue, Pimpri Chinchwad ? once called an industrial city ? will lose its identity. Existing industrial units will also start shifting to other locations," he insisted
