Sebastian Joseph
Paper Clipping
News item from Times of India dated 10/9/2007
Text of the article
"Enthusiastic response to ‘save tekdi’ event
Rahul Chandawarkar
Pune: An estimated 500 naturelovers, both young and old, congregated near the Aapla Maruti mandir on Vetal tekdi on Sunday evening to voice their protest against the proposed road connecting Senapati Bapat road with Paud road, cutting through the Vetal tekdi foothills.
In a unique protest which was laced with music and painting, Vinit Alurkar’s youthful band: ‘Backbenchers’, comprising enthusiastic schoolchildren dished out unplugged versions of foottapping pop-rock numbers from bands like the Cranberries, Guns ‘N’ Roses and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, among others. While the nature-lovers encouraged the band with their constant applause, water colour ace Milind Mulick painted with his usual zest and created a lovely landscape within minutes.
The graffiti board at the venue was filled with emotional messages written in support of nature like “Leave our hills alone!”, “We don’t want the road!” and “Don’t destroy nature!”. The signature campaign undertaken on the occasion also generated a good response.
Speaking on the occasion, Sujit Patwardhan of Pune Traffic and Transportation Forum (PTTF) said, “The proposed road will completely destroy the hill. It will block access to the hill and deny so many people the simple pleasure of walking and enjoying fresh, clean air.”
Anita Benninger of the Centre for Development Studies and Activities (CDSA) said, “There seems to be a hidden agenda in this road plan. There is a lot of private ownership land available in survey number 44 of the tekdi. The proposed road will play the role of ‘connecting road’.”
Benninger rubbished the need for the proposed road by citing a recent Gokhale Institute of Economics survey, which revealed that only 26 per cent of the vehicular traffic originating from Kothrud and headed for Senapati Bapat road used the present Law college road. “As per this survey, the proposed road becomes redundant, as a majority of the people from Kothrud use Karve road.”
Ranjit Gadgil, programme director of the NGO Janwani said, “Not every citizen can participate in a morcha. That is why a subtle event like this was designed to make people aware of the problem.” According to artist Mulick, “If you take away the tekdis (hills) of Pune, there will be no difference between a Pune and a Thane."
Paper Clipping
News item from Times of India dated 10/9/2007
Text of the article
"Enthusiastic response to ‘save tekdi’ event
Rahul Chandawarkar
Pune: An estimated 500 naturelovers, both young and old, congregated near the Aapla Maruti mandir on Vetal tekdi on Sunday evening to voice their protest against the proposed road connecting Senapati Bapat road with Paud road, cutting through the Vetal tekdi foothills.
In a unique protest which was laced with music and painting, Vinit Alurkar’s youthful band: ‘Backbenchers’, comprising enthusiastic schoolchildren dished out unplugged versions of foottapping pop-rock numbers from bands like the Cranberries, Guns ‘N’ Roses and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, among others. While the nature-lovers encouraged the band with their constant applause, water colour ace Milind Mulick painted with his usual zest and created a lovely landscape within minutes.
The graffiti board at the venue was filled with emotional messages written in support of nature like “Leave our hills alone!”, “We don’t want the road!” and “Don’t destroy nature!”. The signature campaign undertaken on the occasion also generated a good response.
Speaking on the occasion, Sujit Patwardhan of Pune Traffic and Transportation Forum (PTTF) said, “The proposed road will completely destroy the hill. It will block access to the hill and deny so many people the simple pleasure of walking and enjoying fresh, clean air.”
Anita Benninger of the Centre for Development Studies and Activities (CDSA) said, “There seems to be a hidden agenda in this road plan. There is a lot of private ownership land available in survey number 44 of the tekdi. The proposed road will play the role of ‘connecting road’.”
Benninger rubbished the need for the proposed road by citing a recent Gokhale Institute of Economics survey, which revealed that only 26 per cent of the vehicular traffic originating from Kothrud and headed for Senapati Bapat road used the present Law college road. “As per this survey, the proposed road becomes redundant, as a majority of the people from Kothrud use Karve road.”
Ranjit Gadgil, programme director of the NGO Janwani said, “Not every citizen can participate in a morcha. That is why a subtle event like this was designed to make people aware of the problem.” According to artist Mulick, “If you take away the tekdis (hills) of Pune, there will be no difference between a Pune and a Thane."