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350 trees may be axed for road construction at Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Pune
In spite of strong opposition from citizen-activists, work is already in progress and so far, 140 trees have been cut by the PMC
Although the Bombay High Court has ordered a status quo on the forested land earmarked for the Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, there is serious concern over the fate of 350 trees in the bird sanctuary which are likely to be cut down for the construction of a one kilometre road from HSBC Towers in Kalyani Nagar to Gunjan chowk, Yerawada that will pass through the bird sanctuary.
In spite of strong opposition from citizen-activists, work is already in progress and so far, 140 trees have been cut by the PMC.
On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court had issued a status quo order while hearing a public interest litigation against de-reservation of two plots in the state’s new development plan (DP). The petition, which came up before a bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice MS Karnik. The order also highlighted news reports saying over 500 trees had already been hacked on the plot by Panchshil Realty.
A visit to the bird sanctuary on Saturday revealed that work was progressing in full swing on the road construction authorised by the PMC.
Anna Shinde, site engineer of the SA Infrastructure, a company which has undertaken the work said, “So far with the permission of the PMC we have already cut 140 trees. However, we will need to cut another 350 trees to complete the one km patch till the Gunjan Chowk which starts from HSBC towers in Kalyaninagar.”
While the permission is awaited, Shinde was confident of receiving it for the further road construction.
While Ramesh Salunkhe from Garden Department in the PMC declined to comment on the issue, another official from the PMC requesting anonymity said, “The portion of land where the permission has not been given to the contractor basically belongs to the revenue department of the state government. While we are already in communication with the revenue department, we are hopeful that the revenue department will hand over the area to us in the next two months.”
Prakash Mirpuri, Corporate communication head of Panchshil Realty said, “Since Atul Chordia, chairman of Panchshil Group is currently out of the country, we cannot comment on the issue.”
A long battle
For over three decades a long plot of land on the bank of the Mula-Mutha River, forming the southern boundary of Kalyaninagar, had been reserved as the Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary – currently, a nesting place more than 30 species of birds. Only in the last year or so, this long plot was declared to be a park and no constructions, businesses etc. was to be allowed on this stretch of river bank (identified as Reservation PK-14 in the Pune City Development Plan).
Challenging February 17, 2018, DP notification, city activists Satish Khot and Bijoy Guha filed a petition in the Bombay High Court.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel Aspi Chinoy, along with Soma Singh, pointed out the “arbitrary manner’’ in which two acres, smack in the middle of a large stretch of land running along the Mula-Mutha river in Kalyaninagar — designated as a bird sanctuary since the 1966 DP for Pune has been de-reserved and released to a builder, resulting in a break of continuity for the reserve.
