The Pune Municipal Corporation has halted unauthorised excavation and land-levelling on a hill slope in Sutar Dara, Kothrud, after environmentalists raised concerns over the use of heavy machinery and questioned why the work continued openly without civic intervention.
The activity was reported on plots bearing Survey Nos. 113/1 and 113/2, which are classified as hilltop-hillslope land. A JCB machine was being used to level the slope, after which a boundary fence was erected, according to a report by Punekar News. Videos of the excavation circulated on social media and prompted environmentalists to approach the forest department.
The forest department clarified that the plots fall within Pune Municipal Corporation limits. PMC city engineer Aniruddha Pawaskar said civic officials inspected the site after the matter was brought to their notice and found that the landowners did not have the required municipal permission.
“After the matter came to our notice, civic officials immediately inspected the site. As the landowners did not have the required permission from the PMC, a notice was issued directing them to stop the work. The activity has since been halted and further inquiry is underway,” Pawaskar said, according to the report.
The incident has also led to demands for a broader inquiry into the monitoring and protection of Pune’s hill areas. Former MP and advocate Vandana Chavan approached Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram and Pawaskar with a representation seeking details of the permissions, land-use classification and development-plan status of the two plots.
Chavan also questioned whether the excavation complied with conditions attached to any approvals that may have been granted. She warned the civic administration against permitting hill excavation and hill cutting in different parts of Pune and called for such activities to be stopped immediately.
A further issue concerns government directives requiring satellite imagery of hill areas to be captured and verified every six months. Chavan asked the PMC why these provisions were not being implemented, arguing that regular monitoring should help identify unauthorised excavation before it expands.
The reported action has itself raised questions about the documentation of the stop-work order. The building permission department reportedly showed an acknowledgement of the notice, but the document was not printed on PMC letterhead and did not carry an official seal. It was handwritten on plain paper and contained the signatures of a junior engineer and a building inspector from the building development department.
The PMC’s further inquiry is expected to establish the permissions applicable to Survey Nos. 113/1 and 113/2, confirm the land-use classification and examine whether the excavation breached any development or environmental conditions. The reported work remains halted while those questions are examined.
