1 week Ago By Aditi Shekar
Pune: The forest department will recommend an immediate halt on all riverfront development (RFD) activities impacting the Ramnadi-Mula devrai , following a site inspection led by range forest officer Manoj Barbole. Acting on a directive from the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC), Barbole's report highlights the ecological sensitivity of the eight-hectare site and urges it to be declared a community reserve post-survey and demarcation. The ministry's intervention came after city resident Vandana Chaudhary raised concerns in Feb this year over tree felling and damage to riverbanks for the project.
"A large number of citizens and organisations have been protesting against any harm to this grove. There is a large amount of biodiversity in the area. As per the Supreme Court directive on Dec 18 last year, it is suggested that the devrais must be demarcated and declared as a forest, and the said area should be declared a community reserve.
Accordingly, this region should be surveyed through the authority in the forest department, should be included in the forest area, and declared as a community reserve," said Barbole, in his report to the conservator of forests office in Pune. Chaudhary told TOI, "I am still awaiting their report to the Union ministry; however, hopes are kept high on declaring it as a community reserve." Bipin Shinde, executive engineer of the riverfront development project, PMC, told TOI, "We are awaiting the report and the directions, following which we will look into the matter.
" Deputy conservator of forests Mahadev Mohite confirmed that a meeting with PMC will be held to revise project plans and explore alternatives that exclude the devrai area. The forest department will now assess legal protections and submit an action-taken report to Centre. "I have received the report, and based on this, we understand that we must ensure complete protection to the devrai.
It is a biodiversity-rich site, and we will be writing to PMC to halt all work in that stretch that will affect the devrai due to the riverfront development project. Following this, we will survey the region and hold a meeting with the officials of the corporation to seek out alternative plans that will exclude the devrai from the project. Once this is done, we can go ahead with the addition of legal and community protection through community reserve declaration," Mohite told TOI.
What the report says In Barbole's report, he mentioned that the region hosts multiple vines, wetland plants, and schedule-1 and schedule-2 species such as the grey heron, purple heron, Indian pond heron, common sandpiper, common kingfisher, greater coucal, common hawk-cuckoo, common lora, cinnamon bittern, and rare species of wild birds classified under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Multiple bird nests were also found in the heritage trees whose habitat is best suited near riverbanks. During the inspection, three temples of ancient periods and sculptures carved on stones were seen, presumed to date back over 100 years.
Multiple trees were observed to be marked by the Pune Municipal Corporation, which prima facie appeared to be marked for felling, said the report. A long-standing battle Chaudhary reached out to the ministry on Feb 5 this year regarding the felling of over 1,000 heritage trees and the destruction of riverbanks at the grove for the project. She demanded that they suspend the tree-felling activities immediately in the region.
Following this, the Union ministry on March 7 wrote to the state forest department requesting them to look into the matter. Ameet Singh, a citizen present at the site visit, told TOI, "The corporations plan to build an STP right at the devrai close to the riverbank, which is unnecessary. There are several other sites and nallahs that can be connected, and an STP can be set up to solve the issue.
The other bank, which also had a riparian forest, has now disappeared from debris dumping." A representative of the Pune River Revival group, which has been working towards this cause, told TOI, "We have seen and documented the indicators present at the devrai. The same was submitted to the forest department after the visit.
Jeevitnadi and PRR have been constantly requesting local authorities of PMC and PCMC to conserve amd preserve such natural spaces and the wildlife present there. We have sent several communications about the same.".
