The Pune Municipal Corporation’s Mudranmaharshi Mamarav Date press is expected to return to its original Ghole Road premises within two months, but the proposed City Library at the same site currently has no designated space for the municipal printing facility, according to civic officials cited by Pune Mirror.
The press was shifted from Ghole Road to the basement of the Sharadchandra Pawar E-Learning School in Wadgaon Budruk during the Covid-19 period. The facility prints important documents and other materials required by various PMC departments. Its presence inside a school building had raised concerns about the safety of students and the suitability of using an education facility for municipal operations.
Mayor Manjusha Nagpure had repeatedly written to the civic administration seeking the press’s relocation from the school premises. After receiving no response, she recently inspected the facility herself and directed officials to shut it down. The premises were subsequently locked, and visuals of the action circulated on social media. The move temporarily disrupted the press’s operations.
Civic officials later informed the mayor that the model code of conduct in force for the elections had contributed to the delay in taking action. The locks were subsequently removed, allowing the facility’s operations to continue while the administration considered its next step.
PMC official Jagatap has now said that the printing press will be shifted back to its original Ghole Road location within two months. The proposed return has created a separate planning problem because the current architectural plan for the City Library does not appear to earmark space for the printing facility.
The Ghole Road premises had earlier been identified for the City Library after the press was moved to Wadgaon Budruk. The latest decision therefore places two civic requirements at the same location: the library project and the municipal printing facility that supports the functioning of several PMC departments.
The administration will have to determine whether the City Library’s architectural plan will be modified to include the press or whether another arrangement will be made for the facility. The issue also highlights how temporary relocations of public departments can create longer-term conflicts when replacement space and future land-use plans are not settled in advance.
For the immediate term, the PMC’s stated plan is to move the press back to Ghole Road within two months. The space arrangement for the printing facility and its compatibility with the proposed City Library remain unresolved in the information available from the civic administration.
