Mula has heart disease, but is being treated by dentist: India's waterman on Riverfront Development Project

Indian Express

19-05-2025

It was a coincidence that water conservationist Rajendra Singh, who is based in Rajasthan, was in Pune around the time that PCMC demolished entire bungalows in Chikhali because these were built on the blue floodline of the Indrayani river.
In 2016, he carried out a day-long fast to support citizens and experts in the city who were demanding that PCMC halt constructions in the blue flood line of the Indrayani River. 'The municipality ignored these demands at the time. Recently, a court ordered the demolition of constructions within the Indrayani River's blue flood line by May 31. Timely attention to the demands to save the Indrayani river could have prevented this situation,' he said. 'I expect that similar demolitions will, eventually, take place on the Mula banks as well,' Singh added.
'This is not the development of a river but the killing of a river. The Mula river is suffering from a heart disease but is being treated by a beauty parlour and a dentist,' said Singh after he visited the Mula river, the site of the Riverfront Development, on Sunday. Singh, who won the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2001 and the Stockholm Water Prize, said to be the water conservation Nobel Prize, is known as the Waterman of India.
Singh was visiting Pune after a year. 'I was sad to see that soil had been filled 75 ft into the blue zone on the PCMC side. If this happens on the PMC side as well, the entire river will die. This will increase the risk of flooding,' he said.
Singh said that the term 'river rejuvenation' had been coined more than 50 years ago when he, as a 14-year-old had begun to work on revitalising dried and dead rivers.
'The way I did it was by using rainwater and small dams to recharge the aquifers and, thus, raise water levels of the rivers. We managed to revive 23 rivers. For this, more than 12 lakh young people, including more than 6,000 dacoits of the Chambal region, worked with us. Today, the river is still flowing and many dacoits have substituted their guns for agricultural equipment and turned into farmers,' he said.
Singh said there was dire need to rejuvenate the rivers of Pune, beginning with cleaning the water, addressing the problem of drains that discharge pollutants in the river, tackling encroachments and preventing extraction. 'I estimate that, if the RFD work continues, PMC and PCMC areas will see heavy flooding and destruction. Then, perhaps, we will return to the correct definition of river rejuvenation,' he said.
The conservationist is appealing to people to protect the river. 'This is not a fight against any neta or officer. A river stands for people's lives, cultures, civilisation and the people of Pune should save the rivers that flow through the city,' he said.
Dipanita Nath is interested in the climate crisis and sustainability. She has written extensively on social trends, heritage, theatre and startups. She has worked with major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India and Mint. ... Read More