It was in 2008 that a Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil first sounded a subtle warning on the danger lurking in Pune's Malin.
But that seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Just around 45 days before the landslide on July 30, the MP from the area had sought a probe into the Padkai scheme — to create cultivable land by flattening
the hill slopes.
"It was because of the corruption in the scheme which began around three years ago and heavy machines like those used to blast huge rocks being installed to level the land on the higher slopes that caused the landslide," Shiv Sena's Shirur MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil said here on Wednesday. His allegations come amidst a debate on whether the muslide at Malin was a man-made or a natural disaster.
In a letter to the state agriculture commissioner and collector, the MP had alleged corruption in levelling work of the barren land on the hill. The inquiry was still on when the landslide occurred.
Adhalrao, a three-time MP, had warned about the potential risk to the
hill around six years ago when he wrote to the chief minister, deputy chief minister and collector pointing out the emergence of few cracks in the adjoining Panchale village. However, there was no response, he said.
According to him, under the scheme which was fully funded by the state government, work should have been done manually. "But, NCP contractors used heavy machines... They also duped the farmers and took the money," he alleged giving a political twist to the issue. He said that of the Rs 10.35 crore issued for the scheme, nearly Rs 9 crore was used for machines.
Meanwhile, the environment ministry has decided to send a three-member expert committee to inquire into the landslide which is expected to give its report in a month. The team will probe if environmental
factors were a cause for the landslide.
The ministry, which has undertaken ground truthing to examine the land in the western ghats, in which Malin falls, is expecting the report on it by September. The government is then likely to hold a meeting of all seven states, in which the western ghats fall.
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