2006-06-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

PUNE'S GREEN HERITAGE UNDER THREAT..

LODGE YOUR PROTEST...

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION GIVEN BELOW...

RING UP YOUR CORPORATOR (NUMBERS BELOW)

..AND PROTEST

WATCH OUT..WIDE ROAD AHEAD...

Just at the end of Kanchan Galli off Law College road, since decades, a green virgin silent part of Pune begins. This is the Law College hill.

Soon, with the concerted efforts of the Pune Municipal Corporation and elected representatives (see later) a new wide road will come across this area, cutting thousands of trees in a forest - and bring smoke, noise and automobiles to this lung of the city.....

Commuters who support this short sighted measure ..please sit and take note of what u r supporting....destruction of green spaces never attempted in Pune before.....and one that will signal the end of a city that claims to be Maharashtra's cultural, educational and intellectual capital.....

SAVE PUNE....

STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF THOUSANDS OF TREES.

SEE and ASK WHY..

(have they done traffic surveys, environmental impact studies, detailed project planning, have they acquired the entire stretch needed to make the road?)

QUESTION YOUR CIVIC REPRESENTATIVES..

LODGE YOUR OBJECTIONS...

ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE...

See the Google image above . ....it shows the thick green patch behind (to the West) of the square Law College ground...taken from an altitude of 4000 feet in the summer months....this area will make way for a road (shown in red)...

WHY IS THE ROAD BEING MADE?

THE PMC HAS NOT EXPLAINED A GREAT DEAL, JUST A CRYPTIC TO 'SOLVE THE LAW COLLEGE ROAD' CONGESTION. BUT THE LAW COLLEGE TRAFFIC CONGESTS ONLY TOWARDS NAL STOP and only in peak hours, AND NOT TOWARDS THE SENAPATI BAPAT ROAD!! THE REASON IS NOT LAW COLLEGE ROAD BUT THE FIVE MAJOR ROADS THAT CONVERGE AT NAL STOP! SO HOW DOES ONE SOLVE THE NAL STOP PROBLEM? BY REDUCING TRAFFIC INTERSECTIONS AND SIGNAL TIMES...BY BUILDING AN UNDERPASS (MORE ACCEPTABLE) OR A FLYOVER (WORST CASE SCENARIO -BUT STILL MUCH BETTER THAN THE BB-PP ROAD PROPOSED! AGAIN THE PMC HAS NOT MADE ANY TRAFFIC SURVEYS...AND THE COST? 30 CRORE FOR TWO KM!! COMPARE THIS WITH THE 21 KM. WARJE-KHARADI 100 FEET WIDE ROAD OVER THE RIVER PROPOSED TO COST 105 CRORES AT JUST 5 CR PER KM WITH PLENTY OF BRIDGES AND FLYOVERS IN IT!!!

HAVE THEY MADE TRAFFIC SURVEYS? ONLY AT NAL STOP!! HOW CAN THIS DATA BE USED TO JUSTIFY A 30 CRORE PUBLIC INVESTMENT? A ROAD IS BEING MADE ON A HUNCH. INSTEAD OF SYSTEMATIC SURVEYS, A PROPOSAL IS FIRST PUT UP (BY TWO CORPORATORS) AND THEN EVIDENCE GATHERED TO BACK IT UP!!)

AND DISCERNING CITIZENS ARE THEN LEFT TO SHOW WHY THIS ROAD IS NOT THE ANSWER!!

Pune is under attack. The same people's representatives and municipal officals who are allotting funds to save Pune's 'last green patches' are fighting a court battle to make a road cutting across several thousand trees and a thick forest over a hill.... the photographs here will show some of the views...the path that we see in the photographs through thousand of trees..planted and now growing naturally, will convert into a hundred feet wide road, flanked by 'human enterprise' in the form of shops of varying size and shape, parked vehicles, noise, smoke and concrete.....it will be organised butchery of the city's environment .....

The proposed Balbharati-Paud phata bypass road is not part of Pune's Development Plan. It was specifically deleted by the Govt. of Maharashtra from the last DP. The road planned is an ad hoc road. The road cuts across a nearly two kilometre swathe (66000 square metres of open and forested land) of Nature, cutting thousands of fully matured and grown trees. (see photographs below!) Instead of exploring options (again, see below) the corporators of Pune Municipal Corporation and the Municipal Administration have sought to sanction this road that will destroy..destroy and destroy..

THE LUSH GREEN FOREST IN EARLY JUNE....

..

The Law College and Vetal hills stand at the heart of the city of Pune. They are the lungs of the city. Surrounded by Kothrud, Pashan, Bavdhan, Senapati Bapat Road and Deccan Gymkhana- Karve Road....these green areas give Oxygen....(for us humans..and this is the only source of Oxygen on the planet), help to reduce pollution, and preserve our eco-environment.

THE PATH THAT WILL TURN INTO A HUNDRED FOOT WIDE ROAD..

Cutting thousands of trees in an environmentally endangered city like Pune IS UNPRECEDENTED IN THE ANNALS OF ANY CIVILISED HUMAN HABITATION OF THE 21ST CENTURY.

The people of Pune need to visit this area, see it, hear the sounds of the forest - because whether it is declared a forest or not, it IS very much a forest (as some of these photographs will show....). The people of Pune must tell their representatives in an election year that they will not take kindly to such slaughter of their environment. The people need to tell them that environment protection is not an elite movement and the most diseases happen to the pedestrian who moves on the street inhaling noxious gases that endanger the air quality of the city.

PLEASE CALL YOUR LOCAL CORPORATOR AND TELL HIM YOU WILL ONLY VOTE FOR A PERSON WHO OPPOSES THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS FOREST.

YOUR CORPORATOR'S ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER ARE GIVEN AT

http://www.egovpmc.com/about/pmcmembers.asp

AN EARLY MORNING SUN SHINES THROUGH THICK FOLIAGE, WITH A STREAM FLOWING and BIRDS CHIRPING IN A SILENT CLEAN ENVIRONMENT.....

The Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) has declared Pune's Air Quality Index to be 'dangerous' ....... Pune tops the list of 'dangerous' cities....(see 'The Times of India' of 4th June 2006 for the report).....

FULLY GROWN TREES FLANK THE PATH AT THE BACK OF LAW COLLEGE

I am attaching photographs taken along the back of the last of Law College's buildings in June 2006, along the fence between where the hill starts and Law College's boundary ends,

along the path that will turn into a very wide road and sacrifice thousands of trees. While trees can be grown again, this intrusion into the very heart of Pune, will cost us dearly for generations to come.....

The concerted and determined attack on nature, to take over precious real estate will not end here. There will be more attacks...to build a road across Chaturshringi, then across Paud Road into Pashan and Bavdhan....and so on.....

Can we leave something for our future generations to be proud of? The Vetal-Law College hills are the pride of Pune. Save these areas, Save Pune..

OUR COMMON FUTURE

"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" - a definition of "Sustainable Development" from "Our Common Future" (the Brundtland Report 1987).

The Forest department of Maharshtra says it has decided to increase areas under forest to 25% by 2007 to achieve the national objective of 33% forest cover by 2012. Yet at the back door of the Conservator of Forests Pune Division, the Municipal body is planning the cutting of 10000 fully grown trees.

The legal remedy for the cutting has been 'plant alternative trees'. These can hardly be the solution, given that they take years of nurturing to reach their present state and there is no agency that monitors whether the PMC will nurture them that long. More important, the loss of open space and intrusion into green forests can never be compensated.

WILL THIS FOREST BE DESTROYED?

YOU CAN STOP IT... BY ACTING NOW...

THICK FOLIAGECHILDREN CLIMB THE HILL AND LEARN TO VALUE NATURE....THE ROAD WILL CROSS THIS SPOT..

TREES ALONG THE PATH ARE BEING BROKEN......

THE BEGINNING OF BARREN HILLS IN PUNE...WORK ON DEMARCATING THE ROAD BEGINS AT THE PAUD PHATA END...

THIS IS THE LATEST PICTURE OF MAY 2007....A PIPELINE BEING ALIGNED WITH THE ROAD WAS STOPPED AFTER OBJECTIONS RAISED BY THE LAW COLLEGE.BUT A LOT OF DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE. THE PMC ENGINEER HAS NOW PRIVATELY AGREED TO SHIFT THE PIPELINE TO ANOTHER SITE....WE WILL SEE IF THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS. IT HAS NOT HAPPENED TILL AUGUST 2007 AS THEY CONTINUE TO DRAG THEIR FEET OVER IT...

An online petition..that objects to this Balbharati-Paud phata Road by cutting through a silent thickly wooded area, climbing a ridge of the hill - is available at
http://www.gopetition.com/online/8763.html

A few minutes of your time to sign this petition can make a difference. Tell your friends of this monstrous road project and ask them to call their local representatives and ask them to stop it....Although legal remedies are being pursued, there is a vigorous move by all political parties to have this road.....awareness of this damage is therefore a vital need....spread the word..save the city's environment.

ALTERNATIVES?

IN AN "INTELLECTUAL" CITY LIKE PUNE, WE FIND WE ARE LEFT WITH FLAT FOOTED LEADERS WHO CANNOT THINK BEYOND FLYOVERS..

LETS SEE HOW ERSTWHILE 'BACKWARD' (COLUMBIA) AND OVERPOPULATED (INDONESIA) COUNTRIES HAVE TACKLED THE PROBLEM

THE TRANSMILENIO RAPID BUS TRANSIT SYSTEM WITH DEDICATED BUS LANES IN BOGOTA

ASIA'S FIRST RAPID BUS TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN JAKARTA ..on its first day at work in 2004.......GETS AHEAD OF CARS!

ONLY AUGMENTED PUBLIC TRANSPORT WITH BUS LANES AND STERN AND SENSIBLE MEASURES TO ARREST THE UNBRIDLED GROWTH OF PUNE CAN RELIEVE THE CITY.

THERE ARE ENOUGH URBAN PLANNERS TO SUGGEST HOW A CITY OUGHT TO BE....IF THEY ARE INSULATED FROM POLITICAL AND BUREAUCRATIC INFLUENCE..AND THE INFLUENCE OF BIG BUILDERS NOW DESCENDING ON PUNE FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.....HOWEVER FOR JUST THIS STRETCH AND ITS HYPED UP PROBLEMS, AS A SHORT TERM MEASURE THIS PROPOSED ALTERNATIVE TRAFFIC ARRANGEMENT USING EXISTING ROADS MAY HELP RELIEVE LOCAL CONGESTION.

The road purportedly seeks to reduce congestion on Law College Road (which is not any worse than say, Fergusson or JM roads). The Law College has indicated its readiness to part with land adjoining the present road so that it can be widened (with suitable compensation). There is a parallel road built on an erstwhile canal that links Prabhat Road to Athavale Chowk (see map). The canal road can be used to divert traffic from Prabhat Road towards Athavale chowk, allowing traffic coming from Athavale Chowk to become a 'one way street'. This can be used to set up proper pedestrian paths and cycle tracks too.

WHAT DOES THE MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONER SAY?

THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION HAS ALREADY DECLARED IT WILL CUT THOUSANDS of TREES ...AND MAKE A ROAD THAT WILL DEVASTATE THE FOREST.

AND PERHAPS TO MAKE UP FOR THESE 'SINS', IT WILL SPEND SEVERAL CRORES ....TO 'PROTECT' IT .....!!

(AND "WHO WILL PROTECT FROM THE PROTECTORS?")

(SEE TIMES OF INDIA DATED 23 JUNE 2006 BELOW)

WHAT DOES THE CHIEF OF PUNE'S CITY IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE SAY.....?

It is said that Guru Nanak asked his disciple to cut the corn before it was ripe and he reaped a massive harvest. Sant Tukaram was protected by Vitthal, and surplus grain harvested by the farmer who accused Tukaram of not protecting his field......

Medieval miracles were all we were left with..

Until now....
Serving notice to Punekars, the chief of the City Improvements Committee has given notice of a new miracle... on the auspicious World Environment Day.

A public hoarding at the end of Bhandarkar Road declares, that in order to save people, save trees and save environment.........

just BUILD THE BALBHARATI - PAUD PHATA ROAD !!!!

(SEE BELOW)

WE HAVE ONLY TO CUT TEN THOUSAND TREES, MAKE A 100 FEET WIDE ROAD THRO PUNE'S GREENEST AND QUIETEST PARTS, CROSS THE RIDGE OF A HILL AND BRING POLLUTION INTO THE HEART OF A FOREST..... AND ..

WE SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FOREST BEGINS IMMEDIATELY BEHIND THE LAST OF LAW COLLEGE'S BUILDINGS....

ARE WE LOOKING AT THE END OF THIS FOREST?

Take a few minutes to express ur opposition to this road at http://www.gopetition.com/online/8763.html

THIS PETITION WITH OVER SIX HUNDRED SIGNATURES OPPOSING THE ROAD WAS SUBMITTED TO NITIN KAREER IN NOV 2006. IT HAS ALSO BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE HON HIGH COURT.

CALL YOUR CORPORATOR AT http://www.egovpmc.com/about/pmcmembers.asp

AND TELL HIM YOU OPPOSE THIS ROAD.

Who will protect from the protectors?

The NURM plan suggests not just one but three tunnels that will erode the hill in all directions and create further congestion on Senapati Bapat road.....

THE HILLS ARE THEREFORE UNDER CONCERTED ATTACK TO MAKE UP FOR DECADES OF PLANNING FAILURES RIGHT UPTO THE UPCOMING ICC TOWERS WITH THE MALLS AND HOTELS ON SB ROAD......

Tell ur friends, associates, family members and all friends of Pune....only numbers can defeat this determined bid to populate the hill and cut the forests..

The petition is not the end of your actions but the begining.......awaken our citizens and ask them to object to this indiscriminate destruction...