Citizens to protest against PMC on May 1
Jigar Hindocha
Pune: Residents and city environmentalist has decided to stage a protest on May 1 against Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) which has planned three projects which will cause damage to Vetal tekdi.
The three projects – includes Bal Bharati-Paud Phata link road, High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) elevated road on Law College tekdi slope and two tunnels with exits at Sutardara, Panchavati and Gokhale Nagar.
The release from a group of environmentalists stated “This tekdi is our natural heritage and part of Pune’s cultural identity. Any “Development” that comes at the cost of these hills, their biodiversity and groundwater is not sustainable. Our children and grandchildren will pay the price for our short-sightedness.”
Pushkar Kulkarni, an ecologist from Sus gaon explained, “Not just the hills but whatever ecology we have in Pune, it will be out of reach because our basic problem is administrator and policymaker is categorically ignoring national urban policy transport policy guidelines and the comprehensive mobility plan of Pune city itself which focuses significantly on the state of art public bus service system which is easily possible.”
“The only thing we need to focus on now is we need to strengthen PMPML. The two stakeholders PMC and PCMC are not fulfilling their duties to taxpayers. They should give us the quality of public transport. Building roads on tekdis and mountain is non-sensical and if we keep building roads for private vehicles it will never fulfil ones need. The solution will not be found by building double-storey or triple storey flyovers.”
Protest details : Sunday, May 1st, 7:30 to 8:30 am At Aapla Maruti, Vetal tekdi
