PMC ‘abandons’ HCMTR project, petitioners seek its deletion from DP

During a hearing on October 29 before a bench of the Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, PMC Counsel Abhijit Kulkarni and Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the HCMTR project has been ‘abandoned’ by the Pune civic body.

“Two km of the 35 km HCMTR are aligned over the proposed Balbharti Road through Law College Hill in an ecologically sensitive urban forest. HCMTR is one of the three destructive projects planned on Vetal Tekdi, the other two being Balbharti road and the two tunnels,” said Dr Sushma Date to The Indian Express. She and Dr Sumita Kale, who are fighting to protect Vetal Tekdi, had filed the case against the PMC.

“Having said in the SC that the HCMTR has been abandoned, it is important that PMC begins the process of deleting the ill-planned and destructive HCMTR from the Development Plan (DP),” said Date.

The HCMTR project was conceived in the 1987 Development Plan and notified again in the 2007 DP by the state government. In 2017, its cost was estimated to be between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 crore. In June 2024, the state govt approved a revised plan of the HCMTR with modifications in the alignment.

The SC also ordered a fresh Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority for the Balbharati Road. This was in response to–and overriding–Mehta’s submission reiterating the PMC’s stand that an Environmental Clearance was not needed for the Balbharati Road.

“It is important that a full four-season EIA be conducted, as recommended by the PMC’s own EIA for the same project in 2019. We are extremely happy that the Hon Supreme Court has validated the ecological importance of the Law College slope of Vetal Tekdi,” said Date.

Earlier this month, the PMC had claimed that the SC had lifted the stay on the construction of Balbharati Road. The civic body had begun surveys and the process for getting the EC for implementing the project. Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram and several officers had, reportedly, inspected the site and instructed officials to urgently apply for and obtain the EC. Ram had emphasised that a large number of trees be planted–he inaugurated a plantation drive–and added that it was vital that work on the road start soon.

Date is calling out the PMC Head of Roads department for telling the media that the road would be built soon. “This is even before the Environment Impact Assessment process has started, thus implying that the environment clearance is just a formality. We would like to remind PMC of its constitutional mandate … to safeguard our forests, green space and aquifers recharge zones. Though we had to go to the highest court in the land, we did and will continue to do what it takes to protect and preserve Vetal Tekdi as Pune’s natural heritage for future generations of Punekars,” said Date.