A campaign by: Pune River Revival Team
To,
Mr Uddhav Thackerey - Chief Minister, Maharashtra
Mr Aditya Thackrey - Environment Minister
Mr Ajit Pawar - Guardian Minister of Pune district,
Mr. Jayant Patil - Irrigation Minister,
Municipal Commissioner - Pune Municipal corporation,
Divisional Commissioner - Pune,
Pune is blessed by the presence of 5 rivers eventually flowing out as one. Hence Pune has rich biodiversity and an abundance of water, but it also ends up being a ‘highly flood prone’ City.
Pune Municipal Corporation has proposed an ambitious project of “River Front Development” (RFD). The project is planning to channelize the rivers of Pune in massive (44 km long, 30-40 ft high) concrete embankments and build 3 barrages on it, at the cost of 5000 crores of taxpayers’ money. (Which, by the way, could actually be used to uplift the lives of people residing upstream and downstream by building more and better quality sewage treatment plants.)
Following are the major grave impacts of this project:
1. We will see a worse than ever rise in flood levels and flood frequency due to a drastic reduction in the natural width of the river for channelization as well as obstruction of the barrages. The idea of stopping river floods by channelizing and narrowing the river bed is completely unscientific and illogical.
2. Entire biodiversity along the river banks will be irreversibly destroyed due to the reclamation of the floodplains, which will be an irreparable loss.
3. Depletion of Groundwater Table, as the RCC embankments shall cut off all aquifers from the main flow of river thereby destroying the groundwater recharge and discharge zones permanently.
Not only does this project undermine the real need of the hour, like
- Cleaning of the rivers and streams
- Sewage and Industrial Effluent Treatment
- Removing the encroachments on riverbeds
- Climate change mitigation (Cloud bursts and flash floods),
but it also is an ultimate example of highly flawed Environmental Clearances (EC) on multiple grounds:
PMC has not bothered to assess the impacts of the proposed barrages by any competent authority as it was directed in Environmental Clearance (EC).
In the EC, it is highlighted that the total Built Area proposed in this project is 0.00 Sq. M. However, as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR), a minimum of 20,00,000 Sq. M. Built Area (494 Acres) is proposed in this project for various uses.
It is said in the EC that no existing structures shall be demolished. But in the DPR, numerous existing structures including existing bridges, causeways, roads, and walls are to be demolished. For eg.: Bhide Bridge, River Side road etc.
As the famous Baba Bhide Bridge along with the riverbed road would be demolished, the entire traffic traversing by this route from Mhatre Bridge to Shaniwar Wada would have to be negotiated by other roads leading to heavy traffic congestion on Karve Road, Deccan Gymkhana, N. C. Kelkar Road (Narayan Peth). This will further raise the air pollution levels in the core city.
A report prepared by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) on the impacts of climate change states that there will be a 37.5% rise in annual rainfall in Pune with more frequent cloudbursts. There has been no consideration of this in the RFD project, especially given the flood lines. This not only endangers the biodiversity but also the lives of us CITIZENS.
PMC RFD itself states that it will be depending on other projects for river cleaning. Even the JICA project (capacity 900 MLD) today is insufficient for treating the 1100 MLD sewage which Pune produces. This will not only affect people living downstream by causing them diseases like cancer and impotence but also citizens of Pune, because stagnant sewage will turn our rivers into breeding grounds for mosquitoes, etc.
In the wake of such circumstances, we appeal to you as responsible Punekars that the implementation of an ecological and economical River Front Development project must proceed only after a symbiotic rejuvenation of the rivers in Pune.
Rivers are our Mothers. At this stage when MY mother is gravely ill, do I take her to a Beauty Parlour or to the Hospital?
Demand Healthy, Clean and Free-Flowing Rivers NOW!
जल ही कल है!
जल ही बल है!!
जल के लिये; यही पल है!!!
For more information visit http://www.puneriverrevival.com/
A campaign by: Pune River Revival Team
To,
Mr Uddhav Thackerey - Chief Minister, Maharashtra
Mr Aditya Thackrey - Environment Minister
Mr Ajit Pawar - Guardian Minister of Pune district,
Mr. Jayant Patil - Irrigation Minister,
Municipal Commissioner - Pune Municipal corporation,
Divisional Commissioner - Pune,
Pune is blessed by the presence of 5 rivers eventually flowing out as one. Hence Pune has rich biodiversity and an abundance of water, but it also ends up being a ‘highly flood prone’ City.
Pune Municipal Corporation has proposed an ambitious project of “River Front Development” (RFD). The project is planning to channelize the rivers of Pune in massive (44 km long, 30-40 ft high) concrete embankments and build 3 barrages on it, at the cost of 5000 crores of taxpayers’ money. (Which, by the way, could actually be used to uplift the lives of people residing upstream and downstream by building more and better quality sewage treatment plants.)
Following are the major grave impacts of this project:
1. We will see a worse than ever rise in flood levels and flood frequency due to a drastic reduction in the natural width of the river for channelization as well as obstruction of the barrages. The idea of stopping river floods by channelizing and narrowing the river bed is completely unscientific and illogical.
2. Entire biodiversity along the river banks will be irreversibly destroyed due to the reclamation of the floodplains, which will be an irreparable loss.
3. Depletion of Groundwater Table, as the RCC embankments shall cut off all aquifers from the main flow of river thereby destroying the groundwater recharge and discharge zones permanently.
Not only does this project undermine the real need of the hour, like
- Cleaning of the rivers and streams
- Sewage and Industrial Effluent Treatment
- Removing the encroachments on riverbeds
- Climate change mitigation (Cloud bursts and flash floods),
but it also is an ultimate example of highly flawed Environmental Clearances (EC) on multiple grounds:
PMC has not bothered to assess the impacts of the proposed barrages by any competent authority as it was directed in Environmental Clearance (EC).
In the EC, it is highlighted that the total Built Area proposed in this project is 0.00 Sq. M. However, as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR), a minimum of 20,00,000 Sq. M. Built Area (494 Acres) is proposed in this project for various uses.
It is said in the EC that no existing structures shall be demolished. But in the DPR, numerous existing structures including existing bridges, causeways, roads, and walls are to be demolished. For eg.: Bhide Bridge, River Side road etc.
As the famous Baba Bhide Bridge along with the riverbed road would be demolished, the entire traffic traversing by this route from Mhatre Bridge to Shaniwar Wada would have to be negotiated by other roads leading to heavy traffic congestion on Karve Road, Deccan Gymkhana, N. C. Kelkar Road (Narayan Peth). This will further raise the air pollution levels in the core city.
A report prepared by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) on the impacts of climate change states that there will be a 37.5% rise in annual rainfall in Pune with more frequent cloudbursts. There has been no consideration of this in the RFD project, especially given the flood lines. This not only endangers the biodiversity but also the lives of us CITIZENS.
PMC RFD itself states that it will be depending on other projects for river cleaning. Even the JICA project (capacity 900 MLD) today is insufficient for treating the 1100 MLD sewage which Pune produces. This will not only affect people living downstream by causing them diseases like cancer and impotence but also citizens of Pune, because stagnant sewage will turn our rivers into breeding grounds for mosquitoes, etc.
In the wake of such circumstances, we appeal to you as responsible Punekars that the implementation of an ecological and economical River Front Development project must proceed only after a symbiotic rejuvenation of the rivers in Pune.
Rivers are our Mothers. At this stage when MY mother is gravely ill, do I take her to a Beauty Parlour or to the Hospital?
Demand Healthy, Clean and Free-Flowing Rivers NOW!
जल ही कल है!
जल ही बल है!!
जल के लिये; यही पल है!!!
For more information visit http://www.puneriverrevival.com/
Thank you for signing this campaign to Stop the proposed River Front Development project in Pune.
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The Jhatkaa.org team.
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