Maharashtra: Locals, environment activists protest against Pune's river-front development project
Apr 30, 2023
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], April 30 : Locals and environmental activists staged a protest against the Pune riverfront development (RFD) project.
The protestors staged a 'Hug trees' protest by the Mutha riverbed against the felling of trees for the project.
Thousands of locals and environment activists also took to the streets holding placards with save tree slogans written on them.
The protestors alleged that the Pune Municipal Administration is cutting down a massive number of trees in the name of the project including many old and rare ones.
The Pune Riverfront Development project is an ambitious project instigated by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in the entire corporation area.
The project covers three rivers namely Mula, Mutha and Mula-Mutha passing through Pune Municipal Corporation, with an approximate total length of 44 km and widths varying from 80mts to 250mts.
According to a PMC statement, the project proposes to protect low-lying areas along the river from flooding by building a variety of well-modulated embankments along the banks of Pune's Rivers. In sparsely developed areas, further away from the city centre, 'rural riparian embankments' will be built. In moderately developed areas urban riparian embankments will be built. More engineered embankments will be built in an intensely developed area with high banks.
The embankments on either side of the river will be designed to contain floods between them bringing the red and blue lines within the riverbed as defined in Revenue maps, said the statement.
