To: Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister
Pune’s pride and splendor are its rivers, water bodies, surrounding green belts, hill gardens and open spaces. They form the lungs of our city. By steadily destroying this natural ecosystem we are allowing the health of fellow citizens to deteriorate, especially children and senior citizens.
We want CM Fadnavis to revoke recent decisions encroach on Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary and other No Development/ Green Zones in Pune under the guise of “Affordable Housing”. We also want strict measure to be imposed against dumping of debris on our rivers, especially Ramnadi and Mula confluence.
The people’s movement that mobilized support to save the hills of Pune last year has once again come together to oppose a range of decisions by Maharashtra state government that threaten the ever-decreasing green and open spaces, hills and rivers of the city.
Earlier last year the Housing Department issued a notification allowing housing projects to be constructed in No Development/ Green Zones across Maharashtra.
More recently the state government unclassified 4.25 acres from the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary as reserved forest and allotted more than 10 acres from the Empress Garden for construction of staff quarters. An online petition against cutting down Empress Garden garnered more than 30,000 signatures from irate citizens in just a few days.
To make things worse, the government has planned roads inside the riverbed and has also decided to build concrete embankments on both sides of the river, squeezing it to release lands for commercial development under the Riverfront Development Project.
All these decisions have been opposed by environmentalists who have decided to take to the streets under the Green Pune Save Pune Movement, an umbrella group of more than a dozen civil society organizations in the city.
A press conference organized at Patrakar Bhavan was attended by Members of Parliament Anu Aga and Vandana Chavan, eminent environmentalist Dr. Madhav Gadgil, Town Planner Aneeta Gokhale-Benninger, Ar. Sarang Yadwadkar, Hon. Secretary Empress Garden, Suresh Pingale, Arun Firodia, Ajit Abhyankar, and members of various prominent city NGOs.
A similar signature campaign and street demonstrations carried out by thousands of citizens from all walks of life had forced the Government to notify the Bio-Diversity Park reservation in 2015, despite opposition from vested interests.
We were also able to raise the issue of the long-pending compensation policy for land acquisition for the Bio-Diversity Park reservation.
The green movement has been fighting a campaign opposing construction inside the river and dumping of debris on the riverbed and warned that such actions against the environment never work out in the long run, as nature will push back with a vengeance. Recently there have been cases in Uttarakhand, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, where choking the water bodies led to disastrous flooding, with irreparable loss of life and property.
People-led movements to safeguard our forests, rivers and green spaces, all over our country, have succeeded in the past to pressure government officials to do the right thing. We urge citizens to join our movement and raise our collective voice for our environment and a healthy future.
To: Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister
Pune’s pride and splendor are its rivers, water bodies, surrounding green belts, hill gardens and open spaces. They form the lungs of our city. By steadily destroying this natural ecosystem we are allowing the health of fellow citizens to deteriorate, especially children and senior citizens.
We want CM Fadnavis to revoke recent decisions encroach on Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary and other No Development/ Green Zones in Pune under the guise of “Affordable Housing”. We also want strict measure to be imposed against dumping of debris on our rivers, especially Ramnadi and Mula confluence.
The people’s movement that mobilized support to save the hills of Pune last year has once again come together to oppose a range of decisions by Maharashtra state government that threaten the ever-decreasing green and open spaces, hills and rivers of the city.
Earlier last year the Housing Department issued a notification allowing housing projects to be constructed in No Development/ Green Zones across Maharashtra.
More recently the state government unclassified 4.25 acres from the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary as reserved forest and allotted more than 10 acres from the Empress Garden for construction of staff quarters. An online petition against cutting down Empress Garden garnered more than 30,000 signatures from irate citizens in just a few days.
To make things worse, the government has planned roads inside the riverbed and has also decided to build concrete embankments on both sides of the river, squeezing it to release lands for commercial development under the Riverfront Development Project.
All these decisions have been opposed by environmentalists who have decided to take to the streets under the Green Pune Save Pune Movement, an umbrella group of more than a dozen civil society organizations in the city.
A press conference organized at Patrakar Bhavan was attended by Members of Parliament Anu Aga and Vandana Chavan, eminent environmentalist Dr. Madhav Gadgil, Town Planner Aneeta Gokhale-Benninger, Ar. Sarang Yadwadkar, Hon. Secretary Empress Garden, Suresh Pingale, Arun Firodia, Ajit Abhyankar, and members of various prominent city NGOs.
A similar signature campaign and street demonstrations carried out by thousands of citizens from all walks of life had forced the Government to notify the Bio-Diversity Park reservation in 2015, despite opposition from vested interests.
We were also able to raise the issue of the long-pending compensation policy for land acquisition for the Bio-Diversity Park reservation.
The green movement has been fighting a campaign opposing construction inside the river and dumping of debris on the riverbed and warned that such actions against the environment never work out in the long run, as nature will push back with a vengeance. Recently there have been cases in Uttarakhand, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, where choking the water bodies led to disastrous flooding, with irreparable loss of life and property.
People-led movements to safeguard our forests, rivers and green spaces, all over our country, have succeeded in the past to pressure government officials to do the right thing. We urge citizens to join our movement and raise our collective voice for our environment and a healthy future.