02-07-2025
HC gives 4 months to state to finalise Pune floodline
The Bombay high court has directed the state government and an expert committee to finalise decisions regarding Pune's floodline within four months. The court made it clear that the expert committee must submit its report within two months, following which the state government must act on the recommendations therein within the next two months. The PIL requested that no permission should be granted for DPs on land within 100 metre of the demarcated floodlines. (HT)
The directive came in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2021 by Pune-based civic activists Sarang Yadwadkar, Vivek Velankar and Vijay Kumbhar, raising concerns over the flawed floodline demarcations in the 2017 Development Plan (DP) of Pune city.
The court had earlier instructed the state to form an expert committee chaired by the additional chief secretary of the Water Resources department, but the committee had neither convened nor submitted its report, prompting the petitioners to file an interim application.
In the latest order passed on June 30, a division bench of justices Alok Aadhav and Sandeep Marne stated: 'The expert committee shall positively submit a report to the state government within a period of two months from June 30. The state government, on receipt of the report, shall take appropriate action on the recommendations of the expert committee within a further period of two months.'
The bench also stated that once the expert committee submits its report, it will be open to the petitioners to make additional suggestions to the state government.
Petitioners Yadwadkar and Kumbhar said the PIL sought replacement of the existing flood lines shown in the DP with more accurate ones based on scientific mapping. 'We have objected to the current floodlines and have demanded that no new construction permissions be granted within 100 metres of the existing floodline,' they said.
The PIL requested that no permission should be granted for DPs on land within 100 metre of the demarcated floodlines, citing the risk of flooding due to poor planning and outdated hydrological assessments.
The petitioners also alleged that despite an earlier court order, the expert committee did not make any effort to come up with a plan. Yadwadkar, who has been raising the issue for several years now, warned that the city faces serious risks of floods if the flood line demarcations are not corrected and enforced.
