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Environmentalists to return PMC ‘Paryavaran Doot’ to protest tree cutting for riverfront development project
PMC plans to raze 6,062 trees and bushes from Mula-Mutha riverbed for execution of riverfront development project
The city’s environmental activists have decided to return Pune Municipal Corporation’s “Paryavaran Doot” award while condemning the civic body’s decision to cut around 6,000 trees for the proposed riverfront development project.
PMC plans to raze 6,062 trees and bushes from Mula-Mutha riverbed for execution of riverfront development project.
Environmentalists Rajiv Pandit from Jividha organisation, Ketaki Ghate (Oikos), Sathya Narayan (Vayu), Ranjit Gadgil (Parisar), Gurudas Nulkar (Jal), Shailaja Deshpande (Jeevitnadi), Anant Gharat (My Earth), Amitav Mallik, Shivam Singh, Vaishali Patkar (Agni) and Priyadarshini Karve (Samuchit Enviro) on Monday announced to return the award.
The activists will hold a “public hearing” on rampant tree cutting in the form of a “Chalo Chipko” protest to be carried out near Sambhaji Park, Deccan Gymkhana Pune on April 29. They have appealed to residents to join the protest to protest the natural ecosystems of Pune city and its surroundings.
The activists issued a statement saying PMC’s detailed project report (DPR) of the riverfront project claims that the existing trees along the riverbanks have been accommodated in the planning of the project. “But a few thousand trees, including some rare and old trees, are being cut just for a 1-km stretch of the riverfront being constructed to showcase the project,” the statement reads.
PMC has stated that compensatory plantation will be undertaken and some of the affected trees may even be transplanted. However, no details are available about the land allotted for this or the timeline planned for the compensatory plantation. Transplantation has proven to be ineffective with a success rate of less than 30%. The clearing of land on the riverbanks is also destroying habitats and biodiversity of the river ecosystem, the activists said.
On March 31 this year, PMC had honoured city-based environmentalists under the state government’s “Majhi Vasundhara” mission. PMC has called them “Paryavaran Doot” - messengers of the environment. However, the awardees have decided to return the award.
