Pune: Anandvan Forest In Mohammadwadi Suffers Multiple Fire Incidents, Two Culprits Nabbed By Forest Dept

Urban forest fire at Anandvan Forest in Mohammadwadi leads to loss of a large portion of the tree cover.

1 May 2024

By Khushi Maheshwari

In a tragic incident, a reserve urban forest by the name of Anandvan lost a substantial amount of trees in subsequent fires that spanned from 27th to 29 April. 

Anandvan was resurrected back to life in the year 2013 when Praveen Kumar Anand, who had moved from the NCR region to Pune, saw the abysmal state of the forest patch and poured much of his energy, time and efforts into turning the forest green again. Before being rescued by him, the forest and the area in its vicinity had become a dumping ground for all kinds of unsegregated waste from restaurants, homes, construction sites and even medical facilities. The only people that visited the location for substance misuse were antisocial individuals. Ultimately, the task of Anandvan preservation became a citizen’s movement. 

According to a press release, the recent fires that took place in Anandvan were instigated by local miscreants. CCTV footage of the incident has been obtained, on the basis of which two minors have been detained and a probe into the fire is still ongoing. About 2 hectares of land have fallen victim to the fires and there has been a significant loss of habitats for various plants and animal species that reside in the forest. 

Bhupesh Sharma, a citizen activist working towards the conservation of urban forests and tree replantation in forest areas, said, “The ecosystem of the area gets disturbed due to fire incidents like these.” 

He added, “Approximately 4,000 hectares of land in Pune city is forest land and as part of the urban forest movement, which is a citizen’s movement, we are trying our best to preserve this land by doing plantations in these areas. Our only appeal to other citizens is to visit these areas from time to time and tend to the plantations and try and save them. If we all work together on the ground we will achieve our goals faster.”

Certain preventive measures have been taken by the Forest Department and the number of day and night patrols by the forest workers has risen. In addition, forest workers use cutting-edge technology such as drone cameras and CCTV to track down miscreants and keep a watch on the recurrent fire events in the Mohammed Wadi forest area. Mr. V.T. Yadav, the Forest Officer of Khedshivapur, along with Mr. R.D. Jadhav, Mr. Anil Rathod, Mr. M.B. Godge, Mr. Ashok Gaikwad and Mr.

Sanjeev Kamble, the Forest Guards, took this action.

The Pune Forest Department has requested all residents to report any illicit activity they witness in the forest, including forest fires, poaching of wildlife, encroachment or the transportation of forest products. They can report such information by calling the Forest Department’s helpline, ‘Hello Forest,’ at the toll-free number 1926.