Free BDP zone of illegal encroachments: Activists

The demands of activists include identify the areas under BDP reservation owned by the government and details of ownership by private individuals

Pune: Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Vandana Chavan and other green activists on Wednesday met Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar and sought removal of encroachments at the city’s biodiversity park (BDP) zone.

Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Vandana Chavan and other green activists on Wednesday met Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar and sought removal of encroachments at the city’s biodiversity park (BDP) zone. (HT PHOTO)

Chavan, green activist Aneeta Gokhale-Benninger and Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) urban cell head Nitin Kadam discussed the BDP issue with meet Kumar and city engineer Prashant Waghmare.

The demands of activists include identify the areas under BDP reservation owned by the government and details of ownership by private individuals, develop the government land to conserve the green space till the issue of acquisition and compensation of land owned by private individuals is sorted out.

Chavan said, “We have requested the civic chief to arrange for high-resolution satellite images to understand the status of BDP zone. We have asked authorities to make entry on 7/12 extract of reserved lands to check illegal sale of property.”

“The Jain committee had suggested green TDR (transferable development rights) as compensation for private landowners, but the state government and PMC failed to do it. Administration should take immediate steps to acquire land in reserved area,” she said.