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Residents oppose three infrastructure projects at Vetal Tekdi
The sprawling hill has a grassland plateau along with the forest. The abandoned quarry on the hill has produced a different ecosystem that are a haven not only for many species of birds and amphibians, but also for typical species of plants that require such areas for their growth
At least 1,000 people gathered at Vetal Tekdi (hills) early Sunday morning, expressing concern against Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) plan of developing roads and tunnels through the hill, located in the western part of the city. Residents claimed that it is one of the last natural open spaces left in the city, and proposed projects will “irreversibly damage ecology and groundwater recharge zones.”
Earlier last year, residents from Sahakar nagar staged a protest for over a month last year to force PMC to cancel the Taljai hill development plan.
On Sunday, a large crowd, mainly comprising various resident forums from Deccan, Kothrud, Pashan, Baner and other areas, joined the protest against three projects - Bal Bharati - Paud Phata road; High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) - elevated road on Law College Tekdi slope, and two tunnels with exits at Sutardhara, Panchawati and Gokhale Nagar.
These protestors included children to senior citizens, who are regular visitors to Tekdi.
“This is one of the many protests we had planned to help save the Tekdi. We were surprised to see so many concerned citizens coming together on Sunday morning, and this was a positive sign in the right direction,” said Prajakta Divekar, a member of the Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Samiti (DGPS) part of the group who had organised the protest.
According to Divekar, the hill is among the three main watershed clusters for Pune’s groundwater as Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management’s (ACWADAM’s) geological research in 2019 recommended a “no compromise protection” of the catchment area.
“Any development here such as roads (surface or elevated) and tunnels will damage our city’s groundwater resource,” Divekar said.
The sprawling hill has a grassland plateau along with the forest. The abandoned quarry on the hill has produced a different ecosystem, due to a large collection of water, with associated marshy areas that are a haven not only for many species of birds and amphibians, but also for typical species of plants that require such areas for their growth.
PMC officials said these projects are necessary for the city to reduce congestion. “The High Court has already cleared one of the three projects - Balbharti Paud road - and PMC has initiated action as per HC order. The road has already been approved in the old city Development Plan,” said VG Kulkarni, incharge of road department, PMC.
“Nearly a third of Pune’s watersheds have the catchment sources in the Vetal - Hanuman Tekdi complex. They contain the largest aquifers recharging Pune’s groundwater. Given the fact that Pune’s groundwater is coming under severe stress from an extraction of the order of three to four TMC annually, it becomes imperative to protect the Tekdis, our ‘groundwater recharge sanctuaries’, from heedless development projects which will destroy not only key natural recharge sites but also parts of the aquifers themselves,” said Himanshu Kulkarni from Advance Centre for Water Resources Development & Management.
In his report “Pune’s aquifers –Some early insights from strategic hydrological appraisal ACWADAM 2019”, Kulkarni has recommended ‘no compromise’ protection of the catchments of the three main watershed clusters of Vetal Hill.
Concerned residents stood up to speak about the need for the preservation of our natural heritage, about their worries that Pune would increasingly become tanker dependent if precious aquifers in the hills were disrupted.
“This is one of our demonstrations, we realised that earlier we were gathering signatures for the three projects, and many were unaware of the project details, which were not in the public domain. We had groups working individually on tunnels and HCMTR but soon realised that they are all interlinked, and this seems to be a much bigger plan to do away with the Tekdi. Our concern is that in the DP, PMC has kept the matters in abeyance. Since part of Tekdi is also a reserved forest, we wanted to update people of what is the reality,” said Divekar.
Gauri Mehedale, a resident and regular visitor at the Tekdi, said, “PMC has been saying that these projects will help solve the traffic issues. They are concentrating on Nal Stop, and already have the Metro and the newly launched flyover. Then shouldn’t they wait to see the progress of the metro before PMC takes a decision? We want public transport to be successful. just building roads is not the solution.”
Suvrat Kher, a resident, commented on Twitter, “Pune’s fierce tradition of citizen activism continues. …Large crowd, May 1, to protest plans for constructing roads & tunnels on Vetal hill, one of the last natural open spaces left in the city. These projects will irreversibly damage ecology & groundwater recharge zones.”
