‘Waterman’ urges people’s war to save Pune rivers

Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh on Monday called for a people’s movement in Pune to stop what he termed as “the conversion of the Mula-Mutha into a nala by the civic body.”

In the city to accept the Vasundhara award, Singh was speaking at a workshop organised by the National Society For Clean Cities (NSCC), Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Parisar, Jalbiradari, Srushti Eco Research Institute, Vasundhara Swacchatta Abhiyaan and others.

The theme of the workshop was ‘Questionable implementation of JNNURM projects on Pune’s rivers’ at Patrakar Bhavan.

Later Singh lead a group of citizens to the Kalyaninagar bridge, to signify the start of the movement of saving rivers from destruction. “Pune is one of the few cities to have five rivers — Mula, Mutha, Pawana, Devnadi and Ramnadi — flowing through it.
The rivers have become nalas, and plans are on to further destroy them. People of Pune need to send out a strong signal to the civic body that these rivers need to be preserved,” Singh said.

The group signed a petition addressed to the mayor and municipal commissioner, calling on them to save the rivers of Pune. The workshop included a presentation by architect Sarang Yadwadkar regarding the various dubious aspects of the ongoing river projects in the city.

He had procured information using the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM) and the irrigation department for his presentation.

In 2008, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) put forth a proposal for river navigation along the Mula-Mutha, from Rajaram Bridge to Kharadi via Vitthalwadi.

“With minimal public participation, this proposal was forwarded to the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF), irrigation department and Central Design Office (CDO) for approval. Although all these agencies have sent back adverse remarks, the PMC is trying to implement the same on the sly,” Yadwadkar claimed.

Citing documents he had procured, Yadwadkar pointed out that the project did not take into account the existing flood line, the presence of bridges and the availability of water all year round for the navigation project to be successful.

Experts in the irrigation department, MoEF and CDO had pointed out many flaws, he said adding, “The PMC is going ahead with the project in a surreptitious manner. Proof of this is the large-scale stone crushing work being undertaken by the PMC near Kalyaninagar Bridge. The river navigation project talks about increasing the depth of the river in the name of river restoration. The effect of these activities will be disastrous, including heavy flooding and destruction of riparian vegetation.”