User:Aditya Shailendra Patel/sandbox

Ramnadi
Ramnadi also known as Ram river ,is a tributary of Mula river in Pune. It originates at Bhukum, north-west of Pune city. It flows through Bavdhan, Sutarwadi, Pashan, Baner and Aundh areas of Pune city before reaching Someshwarwadi. Pashan Lake and Manas Lake are located on this river.Basaltic lava flows occupies more than 95% of the area of the district, layered sequences ranging in thickness from 7 to 45 m and represented by massive unit at the bottom and vesicular unit at the top of the flow.

Ramnadi basin largely consists of moderate to gently sloping plain, with massive rock- basalts domination. Soil cover is thin to moderately thick. Due to hard and massive rock terrain,the majority of river bed is relatively shallow, rocky and wide. Accordingly, there is a little amount of percolation possible in and around the river in depths. The runoff quantity is more in Ramnadi. Pashan name indicates massive rock conditions.

In 1980 map of Bavdhan area, Ramnadi was referred to as a river with an original width of 48 meters. The national register of large dams published by the Central Water Commission in 1990 clearly mentions that the Pashan dam has been constructed by Britishers on the river Ramnadi to store water.

Explosive population growth, poor town planning and indiscriminate construction translate in increase in occurrences of natural/ man-made disasters including flash floods.

With overpopulation peoples have built homes on streams and in green belts, disrupting and blocking the natural drainage system. The population around the waterways has violated the rules and natural limitations.

Currently the Ramnadi basin is full of buildings and roads. Due to reduction in width of the river along with decrease in depth of the course of river has reduced its carrying capacity and increased the fear for flash floods especially in low line areas surrounding the river. During Monsoon season when there is heavy down pours in small time, then flash floods occur during which water spread along the ground encircling the buildings, houses, roads etc. as the runoff is not channelized due to obstructions.

In 2005, Ramnadi was termed a ‘nullah’ in the draft DP for 23 villages by civic administration. This ambiguity led to wide-spread illegal constructions along the bank of the river.

The basin of Ramnadi was reduced substantially in Pashan and Baner areas. Multiple streams draining into Ramnadi have been closed and buildings constructed over them.

In 2007, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) was found guilty of at least three encroachments in the Ramnadi riverbed in Pashan and Sutarwadi areas, according to a survey conducted jointly by District Collectorate and PMC. Survey was carried out following flood like situation experienced in Baner during the downpour, bringing into focus encroachments in Ramnadi.

At some places, the river width has been reduced by a staggering 8 - 20 meters, the direction of the river has been changed drastically and the river has been turned into a sewage canal due to over dumping of garbage and leaving untreated sewage directly into it.

In September 2007, the PMC general body passed a resolution to request state government to carry out the modification of retaining Ramnadi’s status as a river, while granting a final clearance to the Development Plan (DP) for 23 fringe villages. However, the government deferred the decision on Ramnadi. [It stands corrected in the records of NGT today.]

On September 29, 2010, the heavy rains saw water gushing into many households around Ramnadi including in Ramnagar Colony in Bavdhan. Encroachment by builders and private companies along the banks had pinched the 'nullah' to the width of a large gutter causing, in part, the flashpoint. Residents faced severe hardships as cars and other belongings were destroyed in the deluge. The river took many lives.

In April 2011, the residents of Bhavdan and Ramnagar Colony went on a two-day relay hunger strike in order to urge the authorities to take concrete measures to protect the Ramnadi.

The civic administration bowed to pressure from local residents in Bavdhan and carried out desilting of the Ramnadi.

However, the encroachment along the river has not stopped till date. Various authorities including PMC, District Collector, Divisional Commissioner, Zonal commissioner and Tehsildar and local politicians including Member of Parliament, Member Legislative Assembly, Mayor and Corporator and Minister of Environment & Forestry along with Prime Minister’s Office were approached from time to time> they were reminded the after-effect of September 29, 2010 when property and precocious lives were lost during the flash floods. But no effective measures including removal of debris dumped by the builders and restoring the carrying capacity of the river are taken to remove the encroachments in the riverbed of Ramnadi by any competent authority or government agencies till date. Request was made to check the release of sewage water directly into the river and restore Pashan Lake as drinking water reservoir.

Note that not only existing encroachments in the river bed are intact but also several new massive encroachments are mushrooming rapidly in Ramnadi who don’t hesitate to dump the excavated materials into the riverbed, further chocking the river.

After repeat follow-ups, in 2015, residents of Ramnagar Colony with Mrs. Indu Gupta, Dr Pragathi Kaushal and Mr Sarang Yedwadkar as applicants approached National Green tribunal for demarcation of flood line of Ramnadi and desilting of it wherever the builders have dumped the debris following construction along the river.

As per the Interim Order dated May 22, 2015 of NGT, a High Level Committee consisting of PMRDA, PMC, Irrigation Department and DSLR was constituted to take a survey of entire stretch of the river and to demarcate boundaries of Ramnadi and locate encroachments on the river. The PMC and MPRDA were to ensure that no construction is permitted without approval of this committee on either side of the river till next order. Irrigation Department has provided a flood line map in December 2015 while PMC & PMRDA have provided a report on the encroachments in April 2016 wherein the concerned authorities have accommodated the builders involved in construction activity along with Ramnadi.