Anjan Kumar Mohanty, a member of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) constituted by the Supreme Court, visited several locations under the riverfront development project (RFD) in Pune on Saturday. The visit came after citizen groups submitted ecological concerns related to the project.
Background of the Visit
On March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to provide consolidated records of their forest lands, including deemed forests, within six months. However, this has not been done in Pune. In August 2025, the NGO Jeevitnadi communicated with the CEC, highlighting the ecological richness of riparian forests along the Mula, Mutha, Mula-Mutha, Pavana, and Indrayani rivers, according to Prajakta Mahajan, a core member of the Pune River Revival (PRR) and Jeevitnadi groups.
Key Areas Inspected
The official visit covered the Ramnadi-Mula confluence, Balewadi, Dada Ghat, and Sangvi river stretches. During the inspection, citizens and environmental groups raised concerns about the loss of riparian forests, disturbance to wetlands and springs, disruption of faunal corridors, debris dumping, and proposed tree felling in ecologically sensitive riverbank areas.
PMC's Response
Dinkar Gojare, chief engineer (project department) at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), stated that the PMC already has data on plantations. However, declaring all river areas as deemed forests has not been possible because some land is privately owned and cannot be declared deemed forest. He added, "If we start calling private land where plantation has been done as forests, it would deter people from planting trees." Gojare emphasized that the PMC is protecting the Ramnadi-Mula river confluence from any construction and has followed all legal procedures for the RFD. The project has received environmental clearance, but work remains pending due to various court cases. The CEC member was also shown replantation and plantation work done by the PMC.
Citizen Groups' Demands
Shailaja Deshpande of Jeevitnadi said, "As concerned citizens, we believe that conserving these ecologically rich riparian areas is vital for creating livable cities and restoring to the river the space and ecological functions that have been inherently theirs. We were hopeful that the respected member of the CEC would take due cognisance of these concerns and recommend to the Supreme Court the protection of Pune's riparian forests under the 'Deemed Forest' category." Ajay Phatak, trustee of an ecological society, added, "We need criteria for the identification of riparian forests (riparian buffer zones) to help these are declared as deemed forests. We have submitted a draft document to that effect to Anjan Kumar Mohanty for review after necessary discussions. We hope that such notification would help make such conservations systemic across rivers in India."
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