NGO proposes to allow partial development of private land in Pune's Bio Diversity Park area
As the Maharashtra Government takes up a study determine ways to conserve the hills in Pune city reserved as a Bio Diversity Park (BDP), the NGO Pune Paryavaran Manch has appealed to the government to allow the owners of private land in the zone to develop at least 10 per cent of their land on condition of compulsorily planting trees in the remaining land.
Though the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had passed a resolution reserving over 1,000 acres of land as BDP, the state government has not taken any decision with regard to it over the last 28 years due to objections raised by private landowners. Around 200 acres of this land is owned by government agencies while the remaining is private.
There has been much deliberation about the land, with environmentalists and civil society groups pressing to maintain the green cover while the landowners cite the financial loss this entails for them. A lot of encroachment has also taken place on private and government-owned hilltops and slopes under the BDP.
The state government has now appointed a committee under former bureaucrat Ramanath Jha to study the zone and make suggestions. The committee will hear landowners, environmentalists, and civil society members.
'It has been 28 years since the PMC passed a resolution to make the hills a BDP zone but the state government has not taken a final decision on it. The status of the land has changed a lot since then with most of it being encroached upon,' said Deepak Kudale, working president of the Pune Paryavaran Manch.
He said if the PMC wants to acquire the land and retain it as BDP, then it cannot afford to do so either through cash or Transferable Development Rights (TDR) compensation. 'The best way is to retain the green cover, allowing at least 10 per cent construction on the land while making it compulsory to plant and grow trees. This will provide justice to landowners and enable the PMC to ensure green cover without spending money to acquire land,' said Kudale.
Manch secretary Sudhirkaka Kulkarni said hill stations in the state are developed without any danger to the environment so there is no need for BDP in the city.
The proposal to acquire land by giving 8 per cent TDR to landowners is not feasible as its processing fee is more than the compensation which the landowners will get, he said, adding that the government has to ensure the compensation should be as per market rates and under the Union government's stipulations.
Those pressing on BDP reservation have neither planted trees or done anything on their own to protect the green cover of the city, said Kulkarni.
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