Over 9000 residents join petition to protect Pune’s hilltops from construction under new development plans

Pune citizens and activists oppose construction on the city’s hills highlighting irreversible environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and the cultural significance of these green spaces, which threaten the city’s long-term sustainability.

Poster at Vetal Tekdi

A six-member committee was constituted by the Maharashtra government on April 8, 2025, to review the delineation of Biodiversity Park (BDP) reservations and hilltop-slope boundaries, as well as to formulate new Development Control Regulations (DCR) for Pune. The committee has been tasked with submitting its recommendations by May 8, 2025. The decision has triggered renewed citizen-led campaigns and environmental advocacy efforts with activists raising concerns over potential changes to the protected status of Pune’s hills. 

Citizens are organizing awareness campaigns in residential communities across Pune along with flyers and social media outreach. Signature drives in support of a petition are currently underway at Vetal Tekdi and Aapla Maruti. The petition calls for maintaining the existing BDP zones, a complete ban on construction in ecologically sensitive hill areas, and introducing stronger legal safeguards to preserve these urban ecosystems. Over 9,000 residents have signed the petition so far. 

The ecological importance of the hills

Dr Sushma Date, an environmentalist spearheading the petition, explained “These hills contain urban forests which are very important as lungs of the city, and they mitigate the urban heat island effect. Secondly, these hills contain aquifers which absorb rainwater, and recharge Pune's groundwater.” 

The urban heat island effect is when urban areas become significantly hotter than surrounding areas. This is mainly because materials like concrete, asphalt, and buildings absorb a lot of heat during the day and slowly release it at night, keeping the area warm. Construction on these hills, which will mean eliminating the forest cover, is likely to accelerate the effect because natural hill ecosystems, with their dense tree cover and permeable soils, help moderate these temperature extremes by providing shade and facilitating natural cooling through evaporation and transpiration. The forest cover also plays an important role in air purification and flood mitigation. 

Studies have also revealed the presence of methane consuming bacteria within its quarry waters. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, far more harmful than carbon dioxide in its impact on global warming. The detection of these rare bacteria underscores the hills' critical role in regulating harmful emissions. In addition to this, the area supports multiple interconnected ecosystems, hosting diverse species of birds, fish, grasses, insects, and other wildlife. 

As a result, preserving these ecosystems is vital not only for conserving biodiversity but also for safeguarding the city's long-term resilience to climate change and resource scarcity.

History of the Battle for Hill Preservation

A Brief History about the Campaign

The battle to protect Pune’s hills is not new. Earlier in 2015, after a decade-long struggle led by the Green Pune Movement, an umbrella body comprising several NGOs and citizen groups, the state government had designated 978 hectares of the city's hills as Biodiversity Parks, where construction was strictly prohibited. However, the new committee’s recommendations could reverse these hard-won protections, with proposed changes potentially opening up around 8% or more of these green zones for urban development under revised parameters set by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA).

Dr. Sonali Talavlikar, a Pune citizen who is deeply involved in the campaign, said,“Though 8% sounds like a small number, it is not a small number. Even if you're saying the construction itself is only 8%, to facilitate that 8%, can you imagine the amount of destruction that will come around? Even bringing, you know, let's say, earth diggers or cement mixers or whatever is the equipment that is necessary to build buildings, they are going to cut through forest land. They are going to excavate. They are going to dig deep. And that's going to destroy the entire environment.”

Despite officials reassuring that public sentiments and suggestions have been taken into account, activists are skeptical due to PMC’s poor track record and lack of accountability measures against violators after the 2015 BDP ruling. In many cases, complaints filed by residents and activists were either ignored or resulted in minor penalties that failed to deter future violations. Meanwhile, many promises made during the ruling such as compensating private landowners and installing surveillance systems to monitor illegal constructions still remain largely unfulfilled. "Over the past 10 years, the Pune Municipal Corporation has done neither," said Dr. Date. "They have failed to compensate private landowners as promised, failed to monitor hilltop activities, and as a result, numerous illegal constructions have sprung up unchecked."

Compensation and Development versus Ecological Conservation

Some suggest that landowners should be given permission to build because their land was reserved as Biodiversity Parks (BDP) earlier without proper compensation. However, activists insist that instead of rezoning environmentally sensitive areas to allow construction, other compensation mechanisms should be proposed because this approach overlooks the deeper challenges of ecological conservation. “It’s a false promise that even if we cut down trees, we’ll plant some more somewhere else. That’s not how it works,” said Dr Talavlikar. “For example, over 50 trees that were transplanted at the Vetal Tekdi for the Metro construction project have failed to survive, despite fulfilling the official replantation requirements. So yes on paper, they have replanted the trees. But what we really need to be asking is: Are they thriving? Are they living?”

Developers argue that the increasing pressure on land due to rapid commercialization and housing demands has pushed them to lobby for hilltop construction. However, citizens and environmentalists firmly oppose this idea, questioning the very definition of "development" being pursued. "Not on the hills. What kind of development are we talking about?" asked Dr. Sushma Date. "Development where there’s no water, and we have to rely on tankers? Development where the city gets hotter and hotter, where there’s no clean air to breathe, and pollution levels rival Delhi? Is that the kind of future we want?" she said, emphasizing that short-term expansion without ecological foresight would come at a heavy cost.

Dr Talavlikar also echoed a similar sentiment about development in Pune, retracing Pune’s earlier reputation as a pensioner’s paradise filled with greenery. "Over the years, what we now call development is a stark change. And not a change for the better," she said. "The loss of green spaces and the spread of unchecked urbanization are already leaving their impact, and the consequences will only deepen for the generations to come.”

Why the fight matters

The petition, along with an accompanying letter of demands, is scheduled to be formally submitted to the state-appointed committee on 28th April, 2025. Campaigners have also called for permanent public representation in all future urban planning decisions related to Pune’s hills, insisting that the voice of civil society must be woven into the city’s growth instead of just powerful development lobbyists. 

Signature Campaign at Vetal Tekdi

For many citizens, the hills are not just landscapes: they are deeply woven into the fabric of their lives and identities. "I've been coming to the Tekdi since before I could even walk," said Kruttika Gogte, a lifelong Pune resident. "My father would bring me here as a child. The Tekdi has helped shape me and make me the person that I am in so many ways that I surely want that for my coming generation.”

Kruttika Gogte with her family

"These hills, or Tekdis as we call them in Marathi, are part and parcel of my being. Imagining life without them is impossible," Dr Talavlikar also said. "Earlier, it was simply a love for the hill, but now it has become a fight for survival - for this Tekdi and for the hills across Pune, which are the city’s lifeline in so many ways."

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Thank you for reading!

If you'd like to join the campaign, please sign the petition!

By Ankita Kumari