As a 13-year-old, Arnav Gandhe would regularly visit Mahatma tekdi, one of the last surviving hills in the Warje hill complex. His interest in wildlife kept growing as the years passed by and he now works as a wildlife biologist at the Wildlife Institute of India. As a researcher, Gandhe went on to write a research paper on this understudied hill, which he has been so fond of since childhood.
Mahatma hill
“I was interested in wildlife and had a liking for exploring it at a young age. Mahatma hill is special because I regularly visited it,” he said.
For seven years, between 2014 and 2020, he regularly visited the hill and created a checklist of 129 avian species that inhabit it. Along with avian species, Gandhe came across four species of resident mammals and four species of occasionally visiting mammals. His research also consists of rough notations of more than 40 species of butterflies, four species of amphibians (frogs) and 14 species of reptiles, which include the Sarada deccanensis.
However, Gandhe said that now the hill has been at the receiving end of increasing anthropogenic stress like highway construction, illegal plotting and construction, serving as a venue for bullock cart races, kite flying competitions and pigsty, among others.
“Concerned citizens and I have been protesting this continuously, but it keeps happening on and off, there is no permanent end to it,” said Gandhe. So he focused his paper on how urban wildlife conservation can be achieved through the conservation of a hill and the key role played by all the hills of Pune in maintaining the ecological balance of the city.
“City hills are looked at as a free source for raw construction materials. Several areas have been dug out and large parts of land have been cut down. The land over the hilltop on some of the hills is under dispute over possession rights. Several constructions and increased human interference in natural habitats have driven to ill effects resulting in the desertion of land by some historical native species. Mahatma hill is one such hill facing habitat degradation due to anthropogenic stress. Mahatma hill lies isolated and landlocked from any larger hill complex. Besieged by heavy settlements, and geographical isolation became the two key factors that attracted us further to know how wildlife thrives in such a restricted urban ecosystem,” he writes in his paper.
Gandhe said Bio Diversity Park (BDP) zone declaration doesn’t help as it works only on paper.
Mayur Ingale, a junior engineer in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), confirmed the law mandates that no construction be done in BDP zones in the city, except for agriculture, horticulture or forestry purposes. This often covers hilltops. A substantial part of the hill slopes, which fall under PMC land, are privately owned. However, no hill slope with a gradient of 1:5 or greater can be cut. The reality though is different.
“We are planning a boundary fence on the plot to check misuse of the area. The PMC had issued legal notice to those misusing it in the past. The civic administration will take action against encroachment soon,” a civic official said.
“The hill is the only space where biodiversity can exist, from the foothill to the land ahead the entire place is for humans. So please spare that small portion of land,” Gandhe said.
Jijai Nagar
Shailesh Dhodapkar, a resident of Jijai Nagar, said in the last one and half year the issue of cutting hills and illegal construction in his area has become more and more evident. He has lived in Kothrud for 22 years and moved to Jijai Nagar only one and a half year ago. The area is changing at a fast pace, he said.
“When I booked this place, it used to be a green hill. Since last one year, half of the hill is gone, my building is the last legal building. Other buildings are constructed in the BDP zone, where construction is not allowed. I have met civic officials so many times. Once hills, trees and green cover are gone, they are gone forever, permanent loss… all hills slopes have become cliffs,” he said, adding that despite his repeated complaints to the PMC, he can still see JCBs in his area.
Warje hill
Chandrakant Chowdhary came to Pune in 2000 as a student and has been living in Warje since 2004. Back then, he and four of his friends formed a group for tree plantation. All these years, Chowdhary has not taken a break from his efforts to plant trees on Warje hill. Six years ago, Chowdhary along with other residents of Warje formed the Nisarg Mitra Group. He says they have planted over 2,000 trees so far and regularly maintain them.
Still it saddens him when he sees illegal construction on the hill in the BDP area. “It’s like if you give someone permission to build one room, you never know when it becomes four,” Chowdhary said.
Rajeshwari Raju (67) moved to Warje in 1969. “Back in the day, Warje felt more of a jungle with wilderness and less of a human civilisation. Peacocks used to sit in front of my mud house and today, I hardly hear them,” she said.
Susan Joseph, a 35-year-old working mother, who grew up near Warje, said, “I wish my daughter could grow up in the old Warje, where the air was less polluted and roads were cleaner with less harsh weather conditions. Growing up, we could travel and come to the city in 20 minutes. Now with cemented roads, the traffic makes the journey an hour long.”
On the illegal construction in Jijai Nagar and Warje hill, a civic official said, “We had taken action against encroachments in the past. If encroachments have come up again we will visit the site and remove them.”
Gandhe said that now the hill has been at the receiving end of increasing anthropogenic stress like highway construction, illegal plotting and construction, serving as a venue for bullock cart races, kite flying competitions and pigsty, among others. (Express Photo) 
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