PMC stops hill digging at Kothrud's Sutar Dara, serves notice on landowners

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has put a stop to excavation and levelling on a hill slope in the Sutar Dara area of Kothrud and has served a notice on the landowners. The civic body moved after environmental activists criticised it for taking no action while heavy machinery worked openly in broad daylight.

The digging took place on plots with Survey Nos 113/1 and 113/2, which are recorded as hilltop-hillslope land. A JCB machine was used to cut into and level the slope, and the plots were then fenced all around. Videos of the work spread on social media. Activists who watched them asked how the administration could have remained unaware of work that was carried out in full public view.

The activists also approached the Forest Department, which clarified that the plots fall within PMC limits.

City Engineer Aniruddha Pavaskar said: "As soon as the matter came to our notice, PMC officials inspected the site immediately. The landowners did not have the necessary PMC permission, so they were given a stop-work notice. The work has now stopped and further inquiry is under way."

Former MP and lawyer Vandana Chavan has demanded a detailed inquiry into the whole affair. She handed a memorandum to Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram and to Pavaskar. On Monday she had cautioned PMC against allowing excavation and hill-cutting in various parts of the city, and said the administration must end such activity at once or face an agitation.

In the memorandum, Chavan asked why PMC is not acting on the government direction that hills be photographed by satellite and examined every six months, so that hilly areas can be monitored and protected. She also asked for a check on whether the required permissions existed for the excavation on Survey Nos 113/1 and 113/2 in Sutar Dara. She wanted to know which land-use category these plots fall under in the development plan and, if any approval was given, whether the work followed its conditions.

Questions have also been raised about the stop-work notice itself. The building permission department is reported to have acknowledged receipt of it. However, the paper was not on PMC's official letterhead and had no official seal. It was handwritten on plain paper and signed by a junior engineer of the building development department and a building inspector.