Pavana, Indrayani rivers to get a facelift as PCMC takes note of ‘depleting status’

The civic body has decided to implement a three-phase plan to improve quality and accessibility of the rivers.

Pavana river is heavily polluted and covered with hyacinth. Rajrsh Stephan

AFTER YEARS of neglecting the Pavana and Indrayani rivers passing through its jurisdiction, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are now seriously considering improving the status of these two rivers.

The civic body has decided to implement a three-phase plan to improve quality and accessibility of the rivers.
“We are in the process of implementing a concept master plan. We have undertaken a hydraulic study to understand the quality of water and the level of pollution in the rivers,” said municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar.

Earlier this week, the PCMC held a meeting of corporators and NGOs to take suggestions on preparing the concept master plan. “We will incorporate the suggestions in the concept master plan,” added Hardikar.

The PCMC chief further said in the next one and a half months, the concept master plan should be ready. “We intend to beautify the inner edges of the rivers, terminate the hyacinth, put an effective end to dumping of construction material and ensure that only treated water is allowed to enter the rivers…,” he said, adding that FIRs are being filed against those who are found dumping concrete waste along the rivers or in the rider bed.

Hardikar added that the emphasis will be on beautifying the rivers and improving the accessibility. “Improving the riverfront, developing walkways, gardens and residential access, among other things, will be our priority. We are carrying out tentative surveys of the current status along these rivers,” he said.

The Pavana and Indrayani (above) rivers come under the jurisdiction of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, which will now take up a project to improve and beautify the water bodies. Rajrsh Stephan

The PCMC chief added that the financing has not been worked out so far. “We will do it after the plan has been formulated,” he said. When asked whether this was the first serious step by the PCMC to improve the status of the two rivers, Hardikar added that his administration was determined to change the face of the two rivers.

The PCMC has finally moved into action as residents and activists have complained about rising pollution of the rivers and the indiscriminate dumping of concrete waste material that has resulted in the shrinking of the two rivers.
Besides, hyacinth has covered the surface of the rivers with the PCMC clueless as to how to control the menace. Activists and residents are, however, skeptical of the civic body’s latest announcement.

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“Such promises have been made in the past. Plans are announced, but nothing happens. Commissioners of the PCMC have never been serious about improving the status of the rivers in their jurisdiction,” said activist Shridhar Chalkha.

Advocate Sushil Mancharkar, a green activist, said, “The growing pollution in the rivers is a cause of worry for the residents. It shows the gross neglect and presents a pathetic sight in a city which is growing at the seams. If the PCMC is finally implementing a plan, it should do so seriously. Corporator Shyam Lande said this issue has been discussed at the civic meetings several times, but the administration has never taken up this issue seriously.

“If the civic chief has announced a plan, corporators will be ever ready to support him. They should go ahead and implement the plan in all seriousness…,” he said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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