Green Activists Protest Against Felling Of Trees In Pune For Riverfront Development Project

The protesters held placards, shouted slogans and hugged the trees along the riverbank while forming a human chain surrounding the trees.

New Delhi: Protesting the felling of trees for the Pune River Front Development (RFD) project, hundreds of activists, on Saturday, staged a `Chalo Chipko' (Let's hug trees) agitation in the Mutha riverbed in Pune city. According to a PTI report, the protesters held placards, shouted slogans, and hugged the trees along the riverbank while forming a human chain.

A stretch of 44 kilometres of the river bank is envisioned to be developed in this project, including, 22.2 km of the Mula River, 10.4 km of the Mutha River and 11.8 km of the Mula-Mutha River.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the project in March 2022.

The activists claimed that a few thousand trees including several rare and old trees are being cut down for a 1-km stretch of the riverfront. They accused the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) of destroying natural greenery along the riverbank near Bund Garden in the name of its River Rejuvenation Project.

However, the PMC refuted the claims and said there are no old and rare trees among the trees that would be affected. They also said in a press release that during the work of river rejuvenation, it is necessary to cut some trees, and in their place, more than 65,000 trees will be planted.

Activist Sarang Yadwadkar claimed that flood levels of the Mula and Mutha rivers would rise by five feet due to the project as the width of the water course is being reduced.

"Environmental clearance was given on the condition that not a single tree will be cut, but without any permission, the PMC has already started felling trees inside the river bed," he alleged.

Mangesh Dighe, environmental officer at the PMC, however, said the objective of the project is to protect the river bank on both sides from flood and trees will be planted to create a green belt in the heart of the city.

"About 10,000 trees are affected but more than 3,000 trees will be preserved. More than 4,000 trees will be transplanted and only 3,000 trees will have to be removed. The trees which we are going to plant are complementary to the ecosystem of the river," he said, as per PTI.