Illegal buildings sit atop hills and lakes

PUNE: About a decade ago, the hills dotting Katraj offered a picturesque backdrop to the residential apartments in the area. The hills were the area's landmark, which would emerge as people driving from Shirwal would come out of the Katraj tunnel. The backdrop is now long gone. What people now see is a rash of illegal construction, buildings precariously perched on hilltops and slopes.
The hilly areas of Mangdewadi and Jambhulwadi were as pristine as the Katraj hills. There were small hamlets in these parts that remained clean and untouched until about five years ago when land became more precious than the natural beauty of the hills. There is arbitrary construction work taking place even in these areas, with the anti-illegal construction drives of the district administration clearly failing to make any impact or instill any fear.
The construction boom on the city's fringes is not only illegal, but one that will rob Pune of its nature. Gathering dust in the civic office is Pune's integrated disaster management plan, which predicts Malin-like tragedies if the natural cover on the city's periphery is interfered with. The observations have clearly been ignored, with illegal constructions on the city's fringes eating into forests, hills and water bodies, with environmentalists making a failed attempt to draw the attention of authorities to arrest this construction boom.
The Pune Municipal Corporation has stated in its disaster management plan: "Pune has low hills on the northern, western and southern peripheries. The green cover on these hills is depleting fast due to large scale development activities. This may cause landslides. City falls under seismic zone III and thus an earthquake of 7 on the Richter scale is possible causing destruction to buildings that have not been constructed according to the standard norms."
In July this year, over 150 people died in a landslide in Malin village in Ambegaon tehsil, which was attributed to construction on the hill slopes and use of heavy machinery. Last year, two people died in flash floods caused by massive hill cutting for an illegal construction in Shindewadi - just a few km from Pune.
The scale of destruction notwithstanding, construction activity continues. A drive around Pune's periphery reveals large tracts of forest land being cleared to create plots for construction and hills being cut haphazardly to carve out roads.
"The basalt in this region is a strong rock as long as its integrity is intact. But once the rock is broken, it develops cracks, and generates murum that debilitates the foundation, making landslides imminent. For years, we have been fighting with the PMC and the state government to protect hills around Pune. Hills are lungs of the city and today there are deliberate efforts to destroy environment to generate money," said urban planner Aneeta Benninger Gokhale, who has led the movement to demand Biodiversity Parks around the city to protect hills.
Apart from hills, rivers and nullahs too have either vanished or are fading from the map. Construction on water bodies, including nullahs, their tributaries and natural streams are a major concern as it results in flooding. If Mumbai's Mithi River is a classic example, Pune has Ram Nadi, which now has housing complexes on its banks.
Illegal buildings have been coming up in areas like Anandnagar, Vishrantinagar and Mahadevnagar, which fall under the Hingane Khurd and Wadgaon limits while slums are coming up in the BDP in other localities.
Rajya Sabha MP Vandana Chavan admitted that the state government had been avoiding taking a call on the biodiversity parks (BDP) proposal and politicians had encouraged illegal constructions on the BDP area. "There is blatant violation of law and illegal constructions are coming up in BDP. If this continues for the next few years, we are surely heading towards mayhem," said Chavan.
"We are waiting for another Malin. The government and politicians will wake up only when people will die," said Vijay Kumbhar of city based Surajya Sangharh Samiti.
Experts are appalled with the impact such activity has on nature. "We need to sensitize, society, nation and locals and also government officials. There is robust proof to show human action and interference is affecting the planet. We have to put institutions and mechanisms where life and property are protected. If we reach a tipping point it will be difficult to adapt. We need to stop damaging eco systems," said R K Pachauri, director-general TERI.
City-based Nagrik Chetana Manch and Sajag Nagrik Manch had appointed a committee to study encroachments and illegal constructions. In their report, they highlighted the many irregularities including passing of plans where titles of the land were not clear. They recommended that the state government form an expert committee to probe all residential and commercial complexes near or along water bodies in Pune Metropolitan Region. The report, much like PMC's disaster management plan, too is gathering dust.