Environmental Clearance for Pune River Front Development Project deferred 

State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) defers issual of Environmental Clearance for Pune River Front Development Project, the information was today shared by city based activists in a press conference by civic activists Sarang Yadwadkar, Pushkar Kulkarni and many others. 

SEIAA held a meeting on November 7, 2023, regarding the Pune River Front Development Project. The project, undertaken by the Pune Municipal Corporation, claims to revitalize three rivers, namely Mula, Mutha and Mula-Mutha.

During the meeting, SEIAA highlighted several key points and observations:

• 1. Several compliance requirements, identified by the State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), are of a highly technical nature. The project proponent (PP) was requested to submit compliance for the 18 listed requirements.
• 2. Hydraulic and Hydrology Study: The Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) was requested to thoroughly assess the study/report submitted by the PP. Specific comments were sought on various aspects, such as the potential impact on river flooding, consideration of 100 years floods data, conformity to Indian Standards Codes, and the inclusion of Gol Climate change scenarios.
• 3. Consideration of TERI report which says 37.5% rise in annual rainfall around Pune with more frequent cloudbursts.
• 4. SEIAA emphasized the need to include a detailed component for the cleaning of the Mula Mutha River in the project plan.

SEIAA Decision: After careful deliberation, SEIAA decided to defer the proposal until the compliance of the above-mentioned points is addressed by the project proponent.

The above information is based from the document titled “Minutes of 270th Day 1 (Part C) meeting of SEIAA held on 07th November, 2023.

Sarang Yadwadkar said, “The civic body will have to comply to the guidelines set by the committees. They cannot violate the judgements passed by the Tribunal. Pune is already going through a lot of destruction.” 

This bodes well to stop the damage and risks from the RFD project that we have been opposing PMC for.

I view this as a great sign that (1)  Citizen voices matter and (2) that at least some of our institutions, in this case SEIAA are well, functioning, and asking the right questions, rather than give blind clearances.