The Indian Express               23.05.2013

After PMC clarification, NGT disposes of petition on Mutha river

With the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) clarifying that it will not be implementing any 'River Navigation' project in Mutha, the National Green Tribunal Wednesday disposed of the petition seeking cancellation of such plan by the civic body citing it would have an adverse impact on the river.

PMC Legal Advisor Manjusha Idhate said the tribunal chaired by Swatanter Kumar ruled that the PMC has clarified that it is not implementing any river navigation project so the petition is being disposed off.

The tribunal has also rejected demands of the petitioner to stop the ongoing work of chanelisation of river and laying sewage pipelines in Mutha river.

PMC Legal Advisor Manjusha Idhate said the tribunal has rejected demands of the petitioner to stop the ongoing work of chanelisation of river and laying sewage pipelines in the Mutha river.

In his pleadings, petitioner Sarang Yadvadkar said the ongoing works of excavation for proposed channel, laying of sewage pipes and any other work in Mutha, Mula or Mula-Mutha which form/may form part of the navigation project must be stopped immediately.

The entire debris dumped in the riverbed and the sewage pipes laid in the river-bed must be removed at the cost of the officers and consultants behind implementations of the project, he said, adding, "The project of 'River Restoration and/or Navigation' must be cancelled. No funding must be given to any projects without Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), complete study and analysis of its implications and without having a public consultation on it."

"The EIA study should be made mandatory for all such projects, it said adding EIA should be published before the process for implementations starts."

"Boundaries of riverbed must be defined and marked by all local governments in conjunctions with ID and City Survey Department," petitioner said.

Meanwhile, the tribunal hearing two more petitions of Yadvadkar on the river issue is likely to declare the judgment in the next few days.

The other petition pertains to the opposition to the river-side road being developed as an alternative to Sinhagad Road, starting from the Mumbai-Bangalore bypass to Vithalwadi, while the second petition is about debris being dumped in the riverbed near Datar Farms.