The Mula-Mutha river, vital to Pune, could be lost forever. The Pune Municipal Corporation has approved a Mula-Mutha Riverfront Development (RFD) Project that involves cutting thousands of trees, building roads along the riverbank and eventually dumping truckloads of debris into the river.
The project will include building two 44-km long roads, and promenades among other things. Conservationists say if we allow the Riverfront Development Project to continue unopposed, we will increase Pune’s risk of flooding, shrink the riverbed and change and constrict the natural course of the river forever!
Noted environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk will join a ‘Chipko March’ in Pune on February 9, 2025 to save the river and the trees. The march will start at Kalmadi High School in Baner, at 3:30 pm and head to the Ram- Mula confluence.
Cutting so many trees will make the city even more susceptible to heat waves and other erratic weather conditions. Trees bind the soil and prevent erosion.
Illnesses like Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) that have surfaced in Pune, may become more common in the absence of trees that are meant to purify both air and water.
NGO Jhatkaa.org is running an online petition which is being signed by large number of people who are joining in saving thousands of trees, and opposing the disastrous Riverfront Development Project that comes with adverse ecological consequences.
They have asked Pune Municipal Corporation to re-think the RFD. Jhatkaa.org has said that work should be done for river rejuvenation and revival rather than cosmetic projects like these which serve no real purpose.
