Acquire hills to prevent construction: Green crusaders

Opposing any construction within the proposed Biodiversity Park drafted for 23 merged villages,environmentalists and representatives of several NGOs on Friday urged municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak to get the green development plan approved by the state government and implement it by initiating the acquisition of private land on the hills of the city.

Opposing any construction within the proposed Biodiversity Park (BDP) drafted for 23 merged villages,environmentalists and representatives of several NGOs on Friday urged municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak to get the green development plan approved by the state government and implement it by initiating the acquisition of private land on the hills of the city.

The development plan of the 23 merged villages is likely to be approved by next month. Thus,it is necessary to ensure that the green cover in the city remains intact, said NCP city unit chief Vandana Chavan,who led the delegation. It was earlier estimated that the PMC would have to shell out Rs 3,000 crore to acquire the hill land,said Chavan,who has also earned a name for herself as an environmentalist. She added that the actual cost for acquiring the land would be no more than Rs 1,000 crore.

The option of allowing construction on four per cent of the total land with the owners was not acceptable. The PMC should acquire land and construct a boundary to protect it, she said.

She said the union government was thinking of establishing Pune as a model in saving green cover but PMC should initiate steps in that direction.

The union government has assured Rs 300 crore for any initiative to protect the hills. The state government should also contribute the same and the rest can be raised by PMC to ensure the green cover remains intact, Chavan said. She said there were various ways to pay for the land and there should be no injustice to land owners. She stressed appropriate compensation for them.

There is a total of 1,646 hectares of hill land of which 688 hectares are owned by the government. The remaining 958 has private owners and the total cost of acquiring it would be around Rs 1,000 crore.

Municipal Commissioner Pathak said,Pune should remain green and all options for it would be explored before submitting a proposal to the government.

Story continues below this ad

The meeting was attended by Mohan Dharia,Aneeta Benninger,Arun Firodia,Maj Gen (retd) S C N Jathar,Satish Khot,Sandeep Khardekar along with mayor Mohansingh Rajpal.

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories