Pune: The Union forest and environment ministry has told the state forest department to submit an action taken report on the issue of encroachments, tree cover reduction and land levelling in the reserved forest areas of Mohammadwadi and Kondhwa in the city. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC)'s assistant commissioner (forestry), Vinod Kumar, in a letter to the Maharashtra principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) on Aug 23, sought an environmental impact assessment and damage report related to the reserved forests in the two areas. "It is requested to kindly examine the matter and take appropriate necessary action as per the provisions of the extant acts, rules and regulations in force," the letter stated.
The action taken report must be communicated to the officials concerned at the earliest, the letter added. Jaymala Dhankikar, a social worker from NIBM Annexe in Mohammadwadi, had written to MoEFCC on Aug 8 highlighting the degrading biodiversity and green cover in the two areas and seeking attention to the issue. Dhankikar told TOI, "There has been devastating environmental damage in the Mohammadwadi and Kondhwa reserved forest area over the past 20 years.
Indiscriminate tree cutting and hilltop flattening for cement concrete malls and residential projects have severely harmed the ecosystem. All the land in this area and most of the hills are flattened and encroached upon by land mafia groups. The trees have been cut recklessly, which is why I approached the ministry.
" She cited the consequences, which included unprecedented environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, increased risk of landslides, and severe flooding during monsoons. Dhankikar requested the ministry to appoint a committee to investigate lapses by the Pune Municipal Corporation and environment department, assess future dangers posed to people residing in the areas, and recommend remedial steps to mitigate the damage. A Pune division forest official said often the land handed over by the (forest) department to its revenue counterpart was distributed among the municipal corporation and gram panchayats of the region.
After 1978, a large chunk of land given to the municipal corporation for plantation purposes was encroached upon by people, with some even building permanent structures on the land. With the enactment of various policies in 1988 and after, the forest department is in the process of reclaiming that land. Pune deputy conservator of forests Mahadev Mohite told TOI, "There has been no construction or land levelling in the reserved forest area in the region.
Even if there were, they were very small tidbits and removed as they came. We are assuming that a majority of the land mentioned in the letter might come under private land or maybe even the municipal corporation land now. We are awaiting directions from our head office, after which we will look into it accordingly.
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