No concretisation of Devnadi: Bombay high court

In a major victory for citizen groups, the Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to immediately cease concretisation work of the central course of the Devnadi in Baner.

The bench, comprising chief justice Mohit Shah and justice HL Gokhale, directed the PMC  to approach the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to conduct a full-scale environmental impact analysis of all the storm water drain
improvement projects in the  city before undertaking any
further work.

Originating from Pashan Lake and flowing into the
Mutha river near Kothrud, the Devnadi flows across Kothrud, Bavdhan and Baner.

Citizen groups led by the Baner Area Sabha (BAS) and the Jal Biradari had been opposing the PMC’s plans to concretise the central course of the Devnadi, as part of its Rs400-crore storm water drain improvement project under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission.
Both these groups had moved the Bombay HC last month seeking a  stay order on the concretisation work. BAS member Anupam Saraph confirmed the court’s ruling. “Our main objection to the concretisation work was  that it would have destroyed the watershed of the region. Baner had witnessed tremendous havoc during the flash floods last year,” he said.

“The only reason was the destruction of the natural nala system to help in percolation of the rainwater. Concretisation would have further destroyed the watershed of the region,” he said.
BAS has since August last been asking the PMC to stop
the concretisation work. During the recent visit of Magsaysay award winner and noted water conservationist, Rajendra Singh, the citizens of Baner had stopped work of concretisation along the Devnadi.