In spite of persistent showers, the rally to protest against construction on Vetal Tekdi hillock in Pune Saturday saw massive support. The rally started around 5 pm at Vetal Baba Chowk on Senapati Bapat Road and concluded at German Bakery Wunderbar Cafe on Law College Road at around 6:30 pm.
The main organisation behind the rally was Vetal Tekdi Bachav Kruti Samiti – an apolitical umbrella organisation of multiple citizen groups and initiatives.
“We are not a registered organisation and not affiliated with any political organisation. Regional representatives and leaders of different parties like the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP, Congress, AAP, MNS, and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi have shown their support for our movement. BJP’s Medha Kulkarni, Jayant Bhave, and some other local leaders are also participating in the rally to display their support as citizens of Pune, without political banners and fanfare,” said Prajakta Divekar from the Samiti.
“The rally today (Saturday) is against three projects that the Pune Municipal Corporation has undertaken – Balbharti Paud Phata Road, two tunnels (Sutardhara, Gokhale Nagar and Panchavati exits), and the High Capacity Mass Transit Route Project (HCMTRP). Our demand is to declare the tekdi as a no-construction zone and a no-development zone,” added Divekar.
“The PMC wishes to cut 1,500 trees for a 2 km of the Balbharti-Paud Road stretch. Not only that, PMC’s environmental assessment record shows that this will contaminate the groundwater as there are shallow aquifers under the proposed road. They want to level 50m of the hillock slope which will leave a massive environmental impact,” Divekar further said.
“I hope the massive support this rally has received opens the PMC administration’s eyes. Different traffic reports show that only 10-12 per cent of traffic congestion shall be reduced after the Balbharti-Paud Road is built. The administration should announce why the initial alignment was changed and make the revised alignment public on the website. This road, which is costing around Rs 300 crore for a 2km stretch and harming the environment, should immediately be stopped…” Medha Kulkarni said.
“This point should be included in the election manifestos in the forthcoming polls,” Divekar said, even as “Tekdi vachava, khurchi vachava (Save the Vetal hillock, save your political seat),” was chanted by the protesters.