4 min readPuneJul 29, 2024 09:21 AM IST
First published on: Jul 28, 2024 at 11:51 PM IST
Eight years after a government survey identified 23 landslide-prone villages in Pune district in the aftermath of Malin tragedy, the process to rehabilitate residents of two villages of Ambegoan tehsil have begun.
Six villages of Ambegoan — Bendarwadi in Pokhari, Kaalwadi-1 in Jambhori, Kaalwadi-2 in Jambhori, Pasarwadi in Malin, Bhagatwadi in Phulewadi and Asane — are among 23 landslide-prone villages in the district.
Of these, rehabilitation works have started in Bendarwadi and Kaalwadi-1 .
Two years after the landslide tragedy, which killed 151 people in Malin, a survey carried out by the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) in 2016 on the instructions of the District Disaster Management Authority had marked ten villages as “critical”, meaning immediate action was needed for the mitigation of landslides.
Besides, the Pune district administration had in 2016 identified 23 villages as landslide-prone of which most of the them — eight — are in Maval tehsil.
It is followed by Ambegaon which has five villages, Bhor with four villages, Khed and Velha with two villages each, Mulshi and Junnar which have one each.
According to an official report by the Ambegaon tehsil, in Pokhari’s Bendarwadi, land has been acquired and plots have been allotted 53 houses for 226 people.
In Kaalwadi -1 of Jambhori, land has been acquired and plots have been allotted for 34 houses for a population of 226.
On whether the government will also take up expenses of building up houses, Ambegaon Tahsildar Sanjay Nagtilak said, “For those houses that we have allotted, we have requested a company to build houses worth Rs 4.5 lakh each for everyone. But that process is/ underway”.
In Kaalwadi-2, land has been acquired for 37 houses for a population of 145 people. In Pasarwadi of Malin, land has been acquired for 34 houses for population of 135 people.
For Kaalwadi-2 and Pasarwadi, the Geological Survey of India has been asked to conduct a survey to check if the acquired land is safe for rehabilitation.
Also, a map and budget for allocation of houses is underway.
In Bhagatwadi of Phulwadi, land acquisition is still not complete. However, during an official visit in 2023, it was found that all the 14 houses in the landslide prone area are being constructed in a safe place.
A resolution was passed in the 2019 by the gram sabha that the families in Bhagatwadi should get the benefit of various housing schemes of the government. So, ten out of the 14 houses have been constructed by taking loan or grant for the house through Shabari yojana.
The other four houses were built in an individual capacity at safe locations.
So the report says all houses in the settlement are already at safe places.
Asane gram panchayat has not yet taken any decision regarding whether its 35 houses are dangerous or not and no rehabilitation sought yet.
On whether rehabilitation is complete in any village, extension officer Sunil Bhoir says, “In Megholi’s plot distribution and house construction is done. We have also built schools, water tanks. But a compound wall which was recommended for safety from landslides hasn’t been built. We have just moved them to a safer location”.
The District Disaster Management team back in 2016 had said that along with the risk factors, they had estimated that adequate precautions needed to be taken for the 10 “high risk” villages, which included construction of walls or shifting out some of the villagers, which should cost an estimated sum of Rs 3.5 crore.
During an official visit in 2023, it was found that all the 14 houses in the landslide prone area are being constructed in a safe place. (File Photo) 
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