PUNE: Six personnel from the police, fire brigade and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) were injured and five JCB excavators and fire brigade vehicles were damaged, after people turned violent during an anti-encroachment drive in Gokul Nagar, Kondhwa on Thursday. 

The PMC is developing 24X7 water supply project. Accordingly, they had removed 90 huts from survey no. 47 in Kondhwa on February 24. 

“It is government land and hence we removed the huts. However, some people again constructed the huts. On Thursday, a team of 32 police personnel, 50 PMC workers and local police station staff went there to remove the encroachment. Then people started pelting stones,” said PMC Deputy Commissioner Madhav Jagtap, who is head of the Encroachment Department. 

According to the police, some women set a hut on fire. So the police summoned the fire brigade. They were dousing the fire when stone pelting again started leading to injuries and damage to vehicles. 

“The police have detained 20 persons involved in stone pelting and cases are being filed against them,” Jagtap added.