“It is that range of biodiversity that we must care for - the whole thing - rather than just one or two stars of any environmental ratings.” … David Attenborough .
Sir David Frederick Attenborough is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian, and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, Life Planet Documentary series with BBC & Animal Planet, a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth, this one work is enough actually to introduce Sir David. If you haven’t watched any of it then please google & do watch as then you will realize the sincerity in his above words as I have come across many personalities working for nature, wildlife but very few are truly passionate about the subject & a fewer has understand the cause they are fighting for & Sir David is sure one such! I have used Sir Davids above quote nearly ten years back & for the same subject i.e. hills of Pune & I love Pune (sarcasm) for its unique quality of keeping any problem lingering till either the problem gets solved (rarely) on its own or people (read as citizens, common man whatsoever) loosed interest of forgets the problem, which is often true. And joke is the very same problem resurfaces after a few years just the way in the fashion world trends keeps on remerging after some time for e.g. bail bottom pants! Or we can take another example of remake of popular or epic movies as analogy here, such as Devdas or Don as so are some permanent civic problems or issues related to Pune city & hills of Pune is definitely one such. No wonder this subject keeps resurfacing after every few years & as usual the govt immediately set up a committee to find the solution for the hills of Pune city! which is my subject of sharing; hills & not the committee!
Govt over the years has become very diplomatic especially when issue is of social conflict & city is Pune, may it be Bal Bharti Hill Road (plz google) or BRT or Riverfront Development, New Airport, Public Transport (PMPML) & many such, as Govt’s object is getting elected in the next election & not solving the problem, that’s the main problem with Pune’s overall growth! Many won’t like this statement but first it’s not against any political party but every govt which has ruled us in past & in present & second, Punekar’s themselves are responsible for this chaotic approach or attitude of the Mai Baap Govt for city’s civic issues & if you don’t agree with both of my comments, that’s why this sharing, taking present release (sarcasm) i.e. hills as the test subject to prove why I said so! First & foremost let’s understand why hills are so close (and important) for Pune city as without understanding the importance of any object we won’t ever be able to solve the problem related to that object, a simple logic which govt has always ignored. In the case of hills also what citizens want or the city wants, the government never has tried to understand it as it ignored the core of the problem i.e. role of the hills in Pune city. The city has been blessed with hills which once were covered by greenery all around the year & this has made the city to earn tag of ‘No Fan City,” & here Fan is real fan which gives air or say creates air & not the social media fans, which are many for the city, sorry for the PJ! These hills along with the greenery on it were able to maintain cooler temperature all around & in the city as whatever wind used to blow from them was always cool due to green cover & the water tables it used to maintain, one more positive side effect of the green covered hills. Over the decades as there was no policy in existence about these hills, as the Fan following for the city increased the green cover & the hill areas started decreasing because they were easy targets as no policy was there for use of land under hills as well because of geographic barriers it was always difficult (though not impossible) for the civic body to reach here & stop damage to these hills!
The erosion of hills kept happening slowly which started in early 80’s & then rampantly post 2000 (year not note, lol , sorry for PJ) & till we (read as govt) realized it, nearly half of the hills of Pune has gone & if you don’t believe then take look by yourself at Parvati hill range along Sinhgad road & is very much in the center of the city. Fortunately, the hills which were under defense protection such as NDA hills range & Pashan, got protected because of fear & discipline of the Military but rest all hills fall prey for every wrong purpose though mostly for homes (illegal off course) of poor people those who can’t afford a legal home in & around of Pune city! And that’s why damage to the hills of Pune is the outcome of poor urban development policy making of our all the rulers local & at State level, is my blunt statement & if you don’t believe it then do read ahead! Because if we can’t save an entire hill range like Parvati which is in the heart of the city, how are we going to protect hills which are in suburbs as well out of the Pune city, as a committee may give you policy for hills but who will implement that policy as that requires will to save the hills, is my reason of sharing! At the same time as I mentioned a policy or law or asset of rules are just few lines on paper & first, they should be practical & second is there must be a system in place to make them practical on the ground & till now both things were absent for the hills, is a fact & that is sheer failure of urban planning only! As we failed to predict the growth of Pune region & the way the need of the homes will increase here & result is today, we are unable to provide homes to all segments of the society & real estate doesn’t mean homes costing one crore rupees only but it means homes for all pockets! As we need homes for our ho=use maids, drivers, peons & many such whose services runs this city’s life & if they don’t get home nearby in their budget then open lands (read as hills) are bound to get easy target for their homes, is not some rocket science or urban planning but common sense!
And on top of it our confused policy making may it be hills or rivers adding the fuel for targeting these lands for illegal homes. First, we called it HTHS i.e. hill top hill slope zone, where earlier 4% construction was allowed, (no logic) then we just kept it zone with no construction allowed but the land will remain in possession of the owner only. And as that’s not a reservation PMC (govt) can’t acquire it by giving TDR or compensation & yet govt wants the land owners to keep these lands as it is; who are we fooling guys, is what I want to ask our policy makers!
If we want to save hills the first define what you meant as “Save” as we don’t want these hills barren & empty but green & lively with biodiversity flourishing on them & that is possible only if we treat them the way we do forests in project tiger. I wont bother you with details what is project tiger if (if is imp) the “Mai Bapp” govt is really interested in saving hills & the citizens, then please google about project tiger as with that kind of policy we can first clear the encroachment on the hills & then we can forcefully do the things which are necessary for maintaining biodiversity over the, But here the main hurdle is money involved & votes involved which is missing from the project tiger lands & that’s why will of govt is important to protect the hills as the govt just wants to make all people happy & save money also, which is not going to happen ever, that is why we need urban planning! Another way is making it reservation & give TDR with full potential, as this logic that city will be flooded with TDR is a fool’s argument because TDR is like Crypto Currency, you can utilize only on the lands which are free of reservation & those lands are limited, so on some day there will be TDR but no land to utilize it, this point we are missing. And another hurdle is delay in issuing TDR certificates which takes nearly two to three years & land owners of hill lands are not ready for this time lag especially when they get ready clients for their lands with cash & we know who these clients & their intentions for the lands under hills are! One more aspect is what we call as Hills & hill Tops as by earlier DC rules (plz google) if a slope of particular land is more than 1/5 for entire plot as well all four sides of land are having steeper slope than this ratio then such lands will be considered hills & hill tops. Problem is even if on both sides of your land development has happened & still such plots are shown as hills or hill tops, & such land owners are bound to retaliate these norms is a fact! Now we have drones & Ai at our service, let's make exact survey of every sq ft of Hill lands for what they are actually as data is the key for making any right policy, which is our weakest link (as usual)!As we even don’t know how much area is under the hills, how much is private & under whose ownership, how much area is encroached & how many people are living on these hills & many such. As we want to save the hills & we don’t know the scale of the volume of the land we are thinking of protecting, this is a joke!
We can make appeal to MNCs’ in Pune to adopt hills & spend money for conservation of them in whatever way is needed, may it be relocation of existing residents, acquisition of land or plantation & many such (just a suggestion) & give these MNC’s consideration for the same in whatsoever form we can, as why accept free lunches to others for our health, is my question! And, last but not the least, the attitude of we "the Punekars" about every civic issue we have, as do mind when it's greater good we need to accept (and respect) practical solutions, which unfortunately is the biggest problem with Punekars! We want everything perfect without defining perfection & accepting the basic fact of planning that nothing is perfect, it’s our way to accommodate something is what makes that thing perfect & our Hills are also not exception to this law! If we want green hills then we will have to make a right policy for them as then only we can conserve these hills for the purpose for which the nature itself has created them or else there will be committees & there will be policies but no hills, is a writing on the wall, adios with this warning Punekars!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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