Save Salim Ali Sanctuary group meet officials of the MahaMetro

Save Salim Ali Sanctuary group meet officials of the MahaMetro

PUNE: A group of 30 residents from Kalyani Nagar recently held a meeting with MahaMetro officials and requested them to avoid the proposed metro rail route construction through the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. 

MLA Jagdish Mulik said the metro rail route should not be built through the sanctuary. He assured the activists that he would write to the Chief Minister over the issue. However, Ramnath Subramanian, Executive Director of MahaMetro, said that as of now, the plan of constructing the route through the sanctuary stands, as there is no alternate route.

The group included environmental activists, ornithologists, nature lovers and residents. Experts and Save Salim Ali Sanctuary group raised various concerns, including danger to critical biodiversity and disturbance to the entire green belt of the sanctuary. 

Dharmaraj Patil, activist, ornithologist and a member of the Save Salim Ali Sanctuary group, said, “Since objections were raised to the metro route, which will take a detour from the sanctuary and reach Ramwadi through Kalyani Nagar, we insisted on protecting the sanctuary as a non-negotiable point. We also insisted on keeping the original route till Yerawada or Shastrinagar only. We also requested that metro work be stopped in the area till a proper study is done.”

Mulik said, “There should be an alternative metro route, which will not affect the sanctuary. There is no need to take a detour of the route via the sanctuary. I will write to the Chief Minister mentioning to avoid the detour of metro route via the sanctuary.”

Subramanian said, “The proposed route starts from Gunjan Talkies taking a detour from the sanctuary and via Kalyani Nagar, ending at Ramwadi. The route is less than one kilometre long. As of now, the plan of constructing the route from the sanctuary stands, as there is no alternate route. We welcome suggestions from citizens but nothing can be promised at this stage. Hence, we have to work according to the proposed plan.”

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