E-Paper
Illegal construction on hills causing frequent rockslides near old Katraj tunnel
On July 13 and 14 when the Pune district witnessed heavy rains, rockslides were reported near the old Katraj tunnel
Illegal construction atop hills is proving to be one of the main reasons for frequent rockslides near the old Katraj tunnel in Mangadewadi, Katraj. On July 13 and 14 when the Pune district witnessed heavy rains, rockslides were reported near the old Katraj tunnel. However, there were no casualties and the police diverted the traffic to other lanes.
Residents of Katraj and Swargate prefer to travel to Satara via the old tunnel before connecting to the Bengaluru-Mumbai highway (NH4). “Wherever action needs to be taken against illegal construction, we do so. Our general practice is to get the details and find out whether the location falls within our limits or not before taking action,” said Rahul Salunke, deputy engineer, PMC building department.
Ankit Yadav, deputy manager, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), said, “Illegal construction on hills is causing rockslides in hilly areas. The other reason for landslides is soil which is not reinforced or stabilised. If we can do that, we can avoid landslides. In Pune, there is a hard rock so the chances of landslides are less as compared to other districts.”
Prakash Kadam, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator from Balaji nagar-Rajiv Gandhi nagar in Katraj, said, “I have followed-up on this matter since the past 23 years and it was during 1995 to 1999 when Manohar Joshi was the chief minister that he put forward the proposal wherein only 20% of land atop hills was to be used for construction whereas the remaining 80% was to be used for growing trees. Once the trees grew about 15 feet tall, construction was to be sanctioned.”
“The plan was not approved as a lot of people opposed it and since then, construction has kept on taking place on the hills and no one has bothered to plant trees. The worst part is that no one has stopped it. If we see today, 75% of the BDP (biodiversity plan)-reserved land is covered by buildings so where are we going to grow trees?” Kadam questioned.
“Today on every hill, construction has taken place and for this, the state government and the PMC are responsible. If the Manohar Joshi proposal had been taken forward, all the mountains would have remained green today and the number of rockslides would have been far less. I fought for 15 years but nothing happened and construction has kept on taking place,” said Kadam.
