Slogans of ‘tekdi vachava, khurchi vachava (save the Vetal hillock, save your political seat)’ reverberated at the massive rally that was held on April 15 last year to protest against three projects being proposed in the area and to press the demand to declare the hillock as a no-construction, no-development zone.
The three projects proposed by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that citizens have raised an objection to include the Balbharti Paud Phata Road, two tunnels (Sutardhara, Gokhale Nagar and Panchavati exits), and the High Capacity Mass Transit Route project (HCMTRP).
Incidentally, on the same day this year, a single-member from the central-empowered committee of the the Supreme Court visited the site of the Balbharti Paud Phata Road proposed on a stretch of 2.1km. On the anniversary of the rally, citizens took to social media to share their memories of the rally and what the Save Pune’s hills movement means to them, especially this election season.
The Yellow ribbon campaign
As part of the yellow ribbon campaign held first on August 7, 2022, around 2,000 citizens assembled at Maruti temple on the tekdi to tie yellow ribbons to trees made of biodegradable materials. The awareness campaign also had artists who tried to convey the message through Kathak performances, street plays and paintings.
In October, as part of the same campaign, Pune’s running group organised a marathon called ‘Run for the hills’ at Vetal Tekdi. It was called a “green run”, which had no bins, paper cups, water bottles, flex banners or loud music.
Birding marathon
Ranjit Rane, an environmentalist, had conducted bird watching marathons to raise awareness of the diversity of species on the hillock. Rane, along with others, had also participated in the Great Backyard Bird count, which showed that Vetal tekdi is the top birding hotspot in the city.
Citizen manifesto for Pune Lok Sabha candidates
During the rally last year, the Vetal Tekdi Bachav Kruti Samiti (VTBKS) had said they would release a citizens’ manifesto and a year later, it came out with ‘Citizen Manifesto for Pune Lok Sabha Candidates 2024’ highlighting environmental concerns of Punekars such as adequate water supply, proper implementation of public transport and conservation of the city’s hills.
About the conservation of Vetal Tekdi, the manifesto reads, “Our Lok Sabha representative should champion our Pune’s tekdis that make up…the pride of our city…Vetal Tekdi should be notified as a ‘natural heritage’ of Pune in our development plan as per the draft list of natural heritage sites identified in Maharashtra government notice dated September 27, 2000. Note that this draft list has 46 sites listed under natural heritage sites but were not notified when the development plan 2007-2027 was approved…in 2017.”
Apart from this, there have been RTIs, meetings with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), approaching the CEC committee and also demonstrations at Kalakar Katta, in front of Wadeshwar on Law college road, etc. The issue of saving Vetal Tekdi has been constantly in talks.
Expectations from candidates
“Whoever is standing for any election, whether it is Lok Sabha, state elections or local elections, candidates have to factor in climate change. We are not living in the 1980s, the ideas of developments have changed. We have to look at issues like rising temperature, clean air, protecting green spaces, mainly water, we don’t have to go the Bangalore way. These must be included in the manifesto of political parties,” said Sushma Date, Member of Save Vetal Tekdi Foundation.
Prajakta Divekar, another member, said, “The rally included common citizens who came out for the Tekdis. Whoever the candidates are, they need to understand and take cognisance of the importance of tekdis. We want development but not at the cost of natural heritage. It needs to be understood that conserving heritage is also part of development. A flyover is not the only definition of development.”
Citizen and Vetal Tekdi Bachav Kruti Samiti members held protest march against Pune Municipal Corporation Vetal Tekdi projects at SB Road. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre) 
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