Instead of removing debris dumped in large quantities by builders in Ram Nadi, PMC is just spreading it out evenly along riverbed and making water body shallower, allege Baner residents and activists
Instead of removing debris dumped in large quantities by builders in Ram Nadi, PMC is just spreading it out evenly along riverbed and making water body shallower, allege Baner residents and activists
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Even as residents living close to Ram Nadi in Baner West hoped the civic body would remove debris dumped near the river by builders before the monsoon, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has allegedly chosen to belie that expectation by dumping the debris right into the river instead.
Aggravating the flood threat? The PMC says it is working as per norms
to widen the Ram Nadi, where debris has been dumped by builders.
pics/Anupam Saraf
"We were expecting the debris dumped by the builders at Ram Nadi to be removed before monsoon. But the debris is being spread in the riverbed with the help of JCB machines. The height of the basin has now increased from 1 to 1.5m. This strange work has been going on for the past two weeks and nobody is there to stop them," said Anupam Saraf, a local resident and environmentalist.
At sixes and sevens: Property worth Rs 17 lakh was destroyed when
storm water entered the home of a resident in Sai Kamal Society,
Baner, last year. PIc/Indu Gupta
"There was a flood-like situation near Hotel Mahableshwar and Bhairavi last monsoon. Though Baner has been declared a flood-prone area, the PMC does not have enough statistics and information on the spots under threat. We pointed out the lacunas to the PMC Commissioner Mahesh Pathak by e-mail."u00a0
In deep waters: The Baner road that was inundated during the
monsoon last year. pic/jignesh mistry
Supporting his claims were Deepak Nagar, Shashank Jagirdar, Prasad Ramekar, Mahesh Shukla and Mahesh Patil, also residents of the area. They said the PMC should stop spreading the debris on the riverbed immediately. The residents said this would exacerbate the flood situation. When Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal had visited the area he had agreed to follow the norms stipulated by ecological reports on Ram Nadi and other nullas in the area, the residents said.u00a0
Residents' agitation
Earlier, Bavdhan residents had organised an agitation on April 25 to protest against the dumping of debris on the riverbed of Ram Nadi. The heavy rainfall on September 29, 2010 had caused severe damage to both the banks of Ram Nadi. "This area comes under the jurisdiction of both the PMC and the District Collectors making it difficult to resolve the issue," said Patil. "We want a permanent solution."u00a0 The Bavdhan Area Sabha said the PMC and the Collectorate were slow in cleaning the Ram Nadi. So far, only 1.5km of the river had been broadened and still 17km was remaining, it said.u00a0
RTI queries to PMC
Vijay Kumbhar, a RTI activist, has raised many questions about the quality of work being done by the PMC, especially the work on removing encroachments and cleaning of nullas and rivers in the city. Some of his queries were: How many nullas and river have been cleaned till now?, Who supervised the work and how much money has the PMC spent on it?
Work stopped
Installation of storm water pipelines at Mutha River bed work has been stopped following a case filed by Baner Area Sabha against the PMC on May 5. As per an order issued by Justice Girish Godbole of the Bombay High Court, construction on any riverbed shall be stopped till June 9. The huge pipelines are gathering dust near the Mutha River since the last 40 days.
Worst affected
Indu Gupta, a resident of Sai Kamal Society, Baner was one of the worst affected last monsoon. "Because of the storm water that entered my house, I lost property worth Rs 17 lakh," Gupta said.u00a0
Pragati Kaushik, resident of Panchavati Society in Pashan said, "We have shifted our cars to the nearby hilly area, so that there is not much loss."
The Other Side
Mahesh Pathak, PMC Commissioner said: "The work on widening of all the rivers in the city, including Ram Nadi, is ongoing and it is being done as per the norms." He said most of the obstacles on the rivers in and around the city have been removed. "I am sure that the gravity of the deluge will be reduced, as we have already removed many encroachments on the nullas which meet the rivers in the city. I am personally monitoring the work and citizens should not worry as most of the work on rivers and nullas will be completed soon," he said.
Plan for disaster management
Jal Biradari, an NGO, and Pune District Cooperative Housing Corporation are jointly formulating a disaster management plan. Sunil Joshi and Suhas Patwardhan said it was the first private initiative and the people of the city shall take lead in making the plan.
Patwardhan said over 300 housing societies in the city bore the impact of the deluge and the estimated loss was Rs 30 crore. "At least 14 people were washed away in the flood and heavy rainfall that took place on September 29 last year," he said.
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