Short march with a loud message: Citizens protest against Riverfront Development project in Pimpri-Chinchwad

“When the Deputy Speaker said that work on the RFD would be stopped immediately until the environment-conscious citizen groups got a meeting with Ajit Pawar, we felt a sense of hope,” said Prajakta Mahajan of the Pune River Revival, who was among the marchers.

Regular citizens, representatives of environmental groups, children, and political figures marched shoulder to shoulder to the Mula riverside to make a point. (Express Photo)

Corporator Tushar Kamthe, who stayed in the background as he did not want to draw attention to politics, distributed 2,000 saplings among the people, and has promised to plant 10,000 more saplings “for every tree that was felled for the construction”. Speaking to The Indian Express, Kamthe said, “I am not opposed to development, but I do not support the felling of trees and destruction of the ecosystem. The Samshan Bhumi, where we stood today, gets flooded during the monsoon. The concretisation of the banks will worsen the flooding situation and impact the nearby areas,” he said. Kamthe added that, in his personal capacity, he will approach the Mumbai High Court about the RFD.

Marchers inked “Stop RFD” on cheeks, screamed it from banners, sang it, chanted it, and even presented a skit on it. (Express Photo)

Dhananjay Shedbale, who had protested with a hunger strike in the countdown to Sunday’s march, told the crowd, “Our first demand is for clean rivers, from the origin to the confluence. We met the chief minister in Mumbai 10 days ago and gave him a letter insisting on the cleaning of the river. A holistic approach is needed, else the very purpose of river rejuvenation would be absent.”

For the citizens, who carried posters saying, “Trees save rivers; stop the cutting” and “Development should heal, not harm”, the future looked worrying. They stood on the PCMC side of the river, where development work is progressing rapidly, and stared at the opposite bank, on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) side, where a rich riparian zone appears to be awaiting destruction.

For the citizens, who carried posters saying, “Trees save rivers; stop the cutting” and “Development should heal, not harm”, the future looked worrying. (Express Photo)

The crowd observed a minute’s silence for the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. This was followed by silence for the flora and fauna that had been ‘erased’ by the bulldozers to make way for the RFD. Manav Kamble, who participated in the march on a wheelchair, told The Indian Express, “One of my concerns is that the river is being shrunk rather than being allowed to flow freely. If we pollute the water, we will have to pay the price. People’s livelihoods are at stake. The river should stay alive in its natural form.”

One of the strongest messages came from Class 6 student Pradnesh Sagar Chinchwade, who walked wearing a breathing mask attached to a backpack with a potted plant. “If they cut down trees, the level of oxygen will reduce and the simple act of breathing will become impossible,” he said.