Pune: Nearly 800 citizens gathered at Vetal Tekdi on Sunday morning for a 3km walk with a host of demands and expectations from candidates ahead of the assembly elections . The attendees demanded that candidates pledge to save the hills of Pune, scrap all environmentally destructive projects and award natural heritage status to the hill. The walk started from Aapla Maruti mandir to the quarry.
The campaigners held placards and shouted slogans such as "Save the tekdi, secure your seat," to make Pune's environmental issues part of the election agenda. Last year in April, thousands of citizens had walked the streets calling for immediate action to protect the hills from devastating projects. During the event, a citizen's manifesto was also released for the upcoming elections urging all political parties to give an assurance to save the hill.
The manifesto included demands to cancel the three destructive projects — the Balbharati-Paud Phata Road, HCMTR and twin tunnels from Panchavati-Sutardara and Panchavati-Gokhalenagar — planned on Vetal Tekdi from Pune's development plan. The second demand was to declare Vetal Tekdi and other hills in Pune as natural heritage sites as well as no development zones. The third demand was to focus on strengthening public transport by improving PMPML, completing the Metro network, and ensuring last-mile connectivity.
"Our representative should lead the state and local administration to scrap the projects planned through the main tekdis of Pune.
