PCEF News
13 October 2007
It is not everyday that one can see the Mayor, Municipal Commissioner, Party Leaders and the Chair of the Standing Committee trekking across the tekdis of Pune.
At 730 am on Saturday, 13 Oct the PMC officials and political leaders along with local corporators, citizens groups and NGOs, walked from Pashan Sus to Baner tekdi. This is the area in which the Pune Municipal Corpoation is developing a Biodiversity Park. This is part of the various lands reserved for biodiversity conservation in the city. The objective is to provide the citizens of Pune an opportunity to be close to nature, and to keep these tekdis as assets for the health of the city. Talking about the benefits of the biodiversity park, the leaders spoke about the role the hills play in soil and water conservation and recharge of ground water, and as sinks for air pollution in the city.
Clean Earth Foundation, a citizens group from Baner explained how they have been taking care of the Baner tekdi by voluntarily making continuous contour trenches, soil and water conservation and plantation work.
The citizens group from Pashan side described how they have started conducting bird watching trails on the Baner Biodiversity Park in order to enjoy nature as well as to get more and more children involved in the conservation work. They feel that it is very important to keep a watchful eye on the biodiversity park land as builders are eyeing the land.
Municipal Commissioner Mr Pardeshi appreciated the work of the citizens and the local corporators and said that citizens’ participation is crucial for the success of any municipal scheme.
The Mayor recommended that school children should be taken for regular nature walks to the biodiversity park. This work has already been initiated by BVIEER, CEE, Kalpavriksh and other NGOs. Dr Ankur Patwardhan of Garware College and his students have done a detailed survey of the different species of plants and animals of the Biodiversity Park. They have also mapped the grassland, gullies, afforested area etc. Based on inputs from citizens and the scientific surveys, a detailed management plan for the park is being prepared by the PMC.
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4 comments:
It is really good initiative, I live at baner- Pashan link road and go for walk till veer da dhaba. sometimes I go on this hill towards my right which connects to other hills and later to temple of devi in Baner. I founds lots of saplings planted there but there are many which have already dried. My dad suggested me to carry water and we both carried some 7 litres water for 2-3 days but the soil is so dry and plants are so many that 7 litres even for fortnight is very less.
I wanted to know whether there is any plan for proper watering of plants, I found many of them dying.
Regards,
Bhawna(bhawnasaraf06@gmail.com)
Hi Bhawna,
You might like to connect with the group that has planted these saplings. They are on the Baner Hill every Sunday morning at 8 am. Look for Mr Anil Gaekwad or Sachin Walunj or Dr Garudkar or Rohit Naik.
Sanskriti
Hello,
I had a great morning at the lake this Saturday with wonderful birds turning up at da lake. But, A fello bird-watcher warned me my joy is short lived cos someone is constructing a HOTEL in the middle of the Pashan lake. This was too outrageous to be true I thought. But then we need to be vigilant all the while... So I want to go for a RTI. Can you plz tell me if the lake falls under PMC or in forest dept?
Sid.
Hi Sid
Not sure which part of the lake you are referring to. The PMC had got detailed project reports prepared some time back for some beautification projects. You could submit an application for information to PMC.
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