Pune:
Once known for its greenery and lush green hills reserved for bio-diversity parks, Pune is now in the midst of a controversy. In a move directed by the state, four percent of city's hill-tops are identified as prospective construction sites.
Work has already started at a few spots reducing the hills to half the original size in order to make way for high-rises.
For those who are living in the city, the move came as a surprise, as the hills that were identified for the construction work were originally earmarked as green zones reserved for bio-diversity parks.
The move has upset the citizens and green activists of the Pune.
Vinita Deshmukh, Activist, Pune Green Movement Campaign says, "The state government's proposal is disastrous for the ecology environment of Pune as well as for the future generation. When you say 4 percent you are required to give a road structure to the hill. You are required to give a sewage system. So in effect you are actually cutting down more than 35 to 40 percent of the hill."
The proposal was initially cleared by the Pune municipality. Later, even Chief Minister Ashok Chavan showed his support. A final clearance is set to come only after citizens' groups get a hearing. Environmentalists are already outraged by a move of this nature.
Originally, as per Pune's development plan, hills spanning 1600 hectares were reserved for bio-diversity parks. Of this, 976 hectares belong to private owners and 688 hectares is government land.
The Pune municipal corporation was meant to acquire the private hills to develop bio-diversity parks, but the city's corporators claim it is too expensive to acquire the land. They argue construction should be allowed to prevent slum encroachment
When the same proposal was mooted a decade ago, the citizens had blocked it. Now again, the city dwellers have started a signature campaign to vote for Green Pune
The irony of the situation is, even as the year 2010 is declared as the International Year for Bio-diversity by the United Nations, it is in this very year that Pune might lose its bio-diversity parks and with it the most precious lungs of the city, the hills.