October 27, 2006

 

Shri M.K. Jiwrajka

Member Secretary,

Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by Supreme Court of India,

New Delhi.

 

Subject: Violation of orders of the Honourable Supreme Court dated 12th December 1996, in T.N. Godavarman Vs Union of India (W.P. (C) No. 202 of 1995)  and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, by the Pune Municipal Corporation for construction of the Paud Phata – Balbharati link road

 

Dear Shri Jiwrajka,

 

We would like to bring to the kind notice of the CEC violations of orders of the Honourable Supreme Court dated 12th December 1996, in T.N. Godavarman Vs Union of India (W.P. (C) No. 202 of 1995)  and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, by the Pune Municipal Corporation for construction of the Paud Phata – Balbharati link road.

 

Road alignment through forest land

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is constructing a road 2.8 km. long and 100 feet wide from Balbharati to Paud Phata that runs through a densely vegetated hilly forest area called the Law College Hill, one of the few remaining green areas within the city. The said hill is a part of the Vetal Tekdi - Bhamburda Van Vihar- Law College Hill complex that constitutes one ecological unit and is part of the green lungs of Pune city. The road alignment cuts through forest, which is contiguous with, and bordering the Bhamburda Van Vihar (a Reserved Forest). Although the forest along the road alignment is not under direct jurisdiction of the Forest Department, it is evidently a “forest” as per the dictionary meaning of forest as clarified by the Honourable Supreme Court in its order dated 12th December 1996, in T.N. Godavarman Vs Union of India (W.P. (C) No. 202 of 1995) (Photographs attached as Annexure 1).  The Maharashtra Forest Department has at various points of time issued letters which acknowledge that portions of the forests on the Law College Hill within the campus of the Indian Law Society’s Law College are forests as interpreted by the Supreme Court (Please see attached Annexure 2 & 3). It is evident from the photographs that even other areas on the Law College Hill (outside the campus of the Law College) are forests.  Therefore, construction of the Paud Phata – Balbharati link road passing through forests of the Law College Hill (both within and outside the campus of the Law College) clearly require clearance from the Central Government for diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

 

PMC in violation of SC orders, FCA, 1980 and WLPA, 1972 

 

The PMC has issued a work order in February 2006 for construction of the Paud Phata – Balbharti link road excluding part of the alignment passing through the Law College campus. This is supposedly because of an ongoing litigation in the Honourable Mumbai High Court between the Indian Law Society and the PMC, wherein the HC has directed that the PMC needs to follow the due process of law for acquisition of land before starting construction work on the road and has directed that the status quo continue (W.P. (C) No. 224 of 2005 and W.P. (C) No. 4653 of 2003). 

 

Therefore, the current PMC work order is for two parts of the road including both forest land (as per interpretation of the SC) and non-forest land. This excludes the portion in the middle (Law College campus), which is again a forest land (as per interpretation of the SC and acknowledged as so in the Forest Department letters - Annexure 2& 3).  Therefore, the PMC seems to be following a strategy to start part of the work without having necessary clearances for the entire alignment, in order to make a case for fait  accompli. In September 2006, the PMC began indiscriminate felling of trees for the construction of the road. At no point has clearance under the FCA been sought and therefore this amounts to illegal diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes. We have written to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Maharashtra, on October 4, 2006, pointing out the ongoing violations of the FCA (Annexure 4) and urging his action in this respect. On October 9, 2006, we have issued a legal notice to the PMC (Annexure 5), but the violations have  continued even after this. Further, the work on the non-forest portion of the road also needs to be halted immediately since Section 4.4. of the Guidelines and Clarifications for the FCA clearly state that: “…It has, therefore, been decided that if a project involves forest as well as non-forest land, work should not be started on non-forest land till approval of the Central Government for release of forest land under the Act has been given.”                                       

We would also like to highlight the fact that the proposed road would require mass clearing and breaking of the forest land inhabited by several species of birds and reptiles in Schedules I to IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby, destroying the nests of the wild birds and reptiles. Such clearing and breaking has already begun and amounts to a violation of section 9 of the WLPA. 

Biodiversity of the Law College Hill complex

This area is home to a number of mammals, such as Barking Deer, Black naped Hare, Hyaena etc. It is also the habitat of a wide range of birds, reptiles and insects. An independent rapid impact assessment was conducted by the Ecological Society of India, whose Executive Director is Shri Prakash Gole, well-known ecologist and ornitholigist. The report has spelt out the impacts of the said project on bio-diversity, noise and air quality, aesthetic and socio-economic impacts.  This survey has strongly indicated  that a road through this area will result in loss of unique green areas, habitat fragmentation, disturbance to migratory patterns of animals and road kills (Annexure 6). A study of the floristic diversity of the Law College Hill by the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) found 399 species, indicating that the road alignment would impact an area with high floristic diversity (Annexure 7). In general, this area forms an extremely important area for forest and wildlife conservation, especially considering it from the long-term perspective of conserving the few pockets of urban biodiversity in an otherwise concretised landscape. The research organisation,  Ranwa, has studied the carbon sequestration abilities of hills of Pune, which estimates that the ability of the said hill complex would increase 65 times than the present situation by 2030, thereby amounting to 2428.5 tonnes of sequestrated carbon. 

Alternatives to proposed road

It should be noted that a network of Pune based civil society groups and individuals, the Pune Transport and Traffic Forum (PTTF), has already proposed a comprehensive Traffic Management Policy (TMP) that would ensure mobility of people and also keep one of the last valuable green hilly area of the city intact. The stand taken by the PMC for the proposed road  - that the said hill is required for the solution of the traffic problems in the city and that the destruction of this forest area is inevitable, is thus a result of its unwillingness to utilise other cheap, more efficient and feasible alternatives (See Annexure 8 – CD).

 

Many of these above mentioned points have been raised by the Former Chief Justice of India, Shri Y.V. Chandrachud, with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in a letter dated  February 20, 2003 (Annexure 9).

 

Our plea to the CEC

 

Keeping the long-term perspective of the ecological security of Pune in mind, we urge the CEC to please intervene in the matter and:

 

• direct the Pune Municipal Corporation to immediately stop work on the Paud Phata – Balbharati link road that is in violation of Supreme Court orders and the FCA, 1980.
• ask the Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Maharashtra Forest Department  to ensure that illegal diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes does not take place and one of  the last remaining hubs of urban biodiversity  in Pune is conserved for the future.

 

We would be grateful if the Central Empowered Committee could intervene to meet the ends of ecological justice.

 

Thanking you.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Tasneem Balasinorwala / Neeraj Vagholikar

 

Cc: 

 

J.C. Kala, Director General of Forests, Ministry of Environment & Forests, New Delhi.

Jwala Prasad, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Maharashtra State, Nagpur.

D.V. Negi,  Chief Conservator of Forests (Central), Ministry of Environment & Forests,         Western Zone  Regional Office, Bhopal.

Shirish Ashthana, Chief Conservator of Forests (Territorial), Pune.

 

 

List of Annexures:

1)      Photographs of the said area.
2)      Letter dated 31.3.2000 from the office of the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Territorial), Pune, to the Collector, Pune.
3)      Letter dated 16.7.2001 from the DCF (Territorial), Pune, to Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation.
4)      Letter dated 4.10.2006 from Kalpavriksh to PCCF, Maharashtra.
5)      Legal notice dated 9.10.2006 sent by Kalpavriksh to  Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation, and Garden Department, PMC.
6)      Rapid Impact Assessment by the Ecological Society, Pune.
7)      Vegetation survey by the Agharkar Research Institute, Pune.
8)      CD on ‘Sustainable Traffic & Transportation for Pune’ (Pune Transport & Traffic Forum).
9)      Letter dated 20.2.2003 from Shri Y.V.Chandrachud, former Chief Justice of India, to Chief Minister of Maharashtra.