Meghna Bhandari

[Pune River Revival @PuneRivers]

This is a very instructive video!

You may wonder what a 'storm drain' is doing at building level? Because that IS the drain. Those buildings were constructed on or alongside a Rajakaluve — Bengaluru's ancient network of interconnected storm water drains that once linked all its lakes. The buildings have colonised the floodplain, so when the drain fills, the water has nowhere to go except into and around those structures.

Notice also how fierce the flow is — because every natural absorption surface, soil, wetland, lake bed, has been concretised. Water that would once have slowed, spread and soaked in now hurtles through with nowhere to go.

The drain connects to Agara Lake. The Bellandur–Agara wetland has been systematically altered — low-lying areas filled with construction debris, interconnecting drains removed, and the rajakaluve itself narrowed from 60 metres to 28.5 metres, violating NGT buffer zone guidelines.

Flood experts have called BBMP's drain 'remodelling' project a scheme to help the land mafia — drains shrank from 60 feet to 18 feet along stretches now lined with fancy apartment complexes. Once wetlands were levelled with debris, they automatically qualified as SEZs and got official approval.

The Rajakaluve system was ingenious — all of Bengaluru's lakes were interconnected so that if one overflowed, excess water was automatically rerouted to the next. The city isn't sinking. The zones that flood are precisely the zones where this network was encroached upon.

This is exactly Pune's story. Bengaluru had lakes; Pune has rivers. Both cities had natural systems that absorbed excess rainfall. Both have seen those systems encroached upon by builders with official sanction. This flooding isn't a natural disaster — it's man-made, and approved by authorities.

[Baner Balewadi Nagrik Manch @bbnmpune]

'स्थानिकांची नगरसेवा' या सदरा मध्ये म. टा ने बाणेर बालेवाडी नागरिक मंचा च्या कामाची दखल घेतली, नक्की वाचा, धान्यावद @Matapune

[ChaloPMC Puneसंवाद @ChaloPmc]

🚨 ‼️ Death knell for these trees on Ganeshkhind road‼️🚨

The docket is out! ⏰ Deadline: 23 April 2026, 6 PM

Send your objections now by clicking this link arrow⬇️

🆘 https://t.co/vSE94iwl9a

More than 80% trees on Ganeshkhind road are heritage trees but their report says only 20 trees are above 50 yrs!! And includes only 7 banyans!! What a joke!!

Docket says 469 trees to be transplanted. And 60 to be felled.

Below are few trees and their ages as mentioned by PMC in the docket . Note the age of trees ranging from 50 to 325 years!!!

Tree no 25 rubber is 60yrs
Tree no 47 umbar is 325 yrs
Tree no 63a ashoka is 60yrs
Tree no 115 peepal 80 years old
Tree no 123 banyan 120yrs
Tree no 122umbar is 60yr
Tree no 123 banyan is 120 yrs
Tree no 163 peltoforum is 60 yrs
Tree no 140 banyan is 140 yrs
Trer no 207 vaval is 80yrs
Tree no 219banyan is 160yr
Tree no 250 banyan is 160 yrs
Tree no 310 banyan is 200yrs
Tree no 311a ashoka is 60yrs
Tree no 227 tarkelia is 90 yrs
Tree no 269 banyan 200yrs
Tree no 342 vaval 50yrs
Tree no 353 chich 120 yrs old
Tree no 403 raintree 120 yrs
Tree no 405 raintree is 60 yrs old

📣 *Object to Tree-Felling* - GaneshKhind Road Trees ✊🏽
🚨 *≈530 Trees* 🌳🪚❗
⏰ Deadline: *23 April 2026 (Thursday) at 6pm*

✉️ *Send Objection Email :* https://t.co/vSE94iwl9a

📰 *Notice Advertisement* dated 10 April 2026 : https://t.co/1yWdc023Ds

📄 Docket : https://t.co/FPKzNdgSWj

⚠️ _Spread the word

[Akanksha Pandey @LittlePandey]

The Tree Authority must stop illegal tree-felling.
Is this being followed transparently?
Or bypassed quietly?
@PMCPune @PMCMCO
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune

[Gangotri Chanda @gtitli]

Air quality dashboards exist.
Citizen monitors exist.
Disease data exists.
But action is missing.
@PMCPune @PMCMCO @mpcb_official
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : @parisarpune

[ameet singh @ameetgsingh]

Air pollution is interconnected:
Mobility, waste, dust, tree-felling, and planning.
Fragmented action will not work.

Pune produces 3 crore tons of emissions.

We need 150 crore trees to deal with it.

150 trees per person.

We have only 1 tree per 2 people.

High AQI’s are our reality.

@PMCPune @PMCMCO @mpcb_official
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune

[Akanksha Pandey @LittlePandey]

Garbage not collected → burning → toxic air → disease burden.
This chain is known.
Why is it not broken? @PMCPune @PMCMCO
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : TOI and @parisarpune

[Raja Subramani @RajaSubramani22]

Air quality dashboards exist.
Citizen monitors exist.
Disease data exists.
But action is missing. Construction continued without compliance affecting lakhs in our city E.g this place was covered with trees before
@PMCPune @PMCMCO @mpcb_official
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : @parisarpune

[Prathamesh Shirwadkar @prathameshpps]

सगळ्या सण उत्सवांचे बीभत्स, कर्णकर्कश्य आणि किळसवाणे इव्हेंट करून ठेवणे हे एकच ध्येय ठेवलेलं दिसतंय...

[Raghav Chadha @raghav_chadha]

Traffic has turned our metro cities into giant parking lots with people trapped inside them.

In Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai, on average a commuter spends 100 to 168 hours a year stuck in traffic . Not commuting. Just sitting.

Every hour lost is an hour India cannot get back. Productivity lost, fuel wasted, air polluted, quality of life damaged.

I stood up in Parliament and demanded a National Urban Decongestion Mission for our big metro cities with better public transport, smarter traffic management and a scientific parking policy.

We are not stuck in traffic. We are stuck because of it. And if India wants its economy in the fast lane, our cities need to start moving.

[Suneet Suresh Bhave @suneetMT]

पुणे महानगरपालिका आणि जलसंपदा विभाग..., एकमेकांना पाण्यात पाहणे कधी थांबवणार?
#पुणे #पाणीपुरवठा #महानगरपालिका
#Pune #Watersupply #PMC
@ParagKMT @ShreedharLoniMT @shree_brahmeMT @Matapune @CMOMaharashtra @aparanjape

[Nachiket Deshpande @nachiket1982]

If u are a law abiding citizen, working your ass off for a salary, then saving up for down payment of a house, and then paying half your income for 20 yrs as homeloan EMI for your dream 2BHK apartment - you are a fool (as am I).
You could've just encroached on a property & squatted on it till the govt would "regularise" it.

https://t.co/k6C2msv1p2

[राम सुत रुपेश @RupeshKesekar]

हा आहे आपल्या जगात भारी हिंजवडी वाकड फ्लाय ओव्हर जवळचा परिसर,
मागील अनेक महिन्यापासून हे पावसाळी ड्रेनेजचे काम चालू आहे, आता जोपर्यंत तिथं एखादा जीव जात नाही, तोपर्यंत तो खड्डा काही बुजवला जाणार नाही.
@pcmcindiagovin @OfficialPMRDA @nitin_gadkari @mohol_murlidhar

[Gangotri Chanda @gtitli]

67 lakh respiratory patients.
Waste burning continues.
This is not a lack of knowledge—it’s a lack of action.
@PMCPune @PMCMCO
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : TOI and @parisarpune

[Gangotri Chanda @gtitli]

Tree-felling data is not fully transparent.
Trees are key pollution buffers.
Tree-felling without accountability = long-term damage.
Compensatory plantation without survival data = illusion.
Air quality impact ignored.
@PMCPune @PMCMCO
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune

[Gangotri Chanda @gtitli]

Air pollution caused 8.2 lakh DALYs lost in Maharashtra.
Yet open burning & dust remain unchecked.
@PMCPune @PMCMCO @mpcb_official
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : https://t.co/gAqA9k5Lt4

[Gangotri Chanda @gtitli]

Road dust + construction dominate PM
Health impact: lakhs living with COPD & asthma
Why is dust control still missing on ground?
@PMCPune @PMCMCO
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info : Air Quality, Emission & Source Study for Pune by CSIR-NEERI & IIT Bombay dated 8 Jul 24, and, TOI

[ameet singh @ameetgsingh]

Clean air Policy relies on monitoring networks. Sensors which feed real time data into a dashboard so that we know what we are breathing. It’s our right under article 21…

But limited coverage misses real hotspots.
Hidden pollution hotspots exist beyond official monitoring.
Unseen does not mean harmless.

It simply means we breathe poison.

@PMCPune @PMCMCO @mpcb_official
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : https://t.co/o9lfpE5ETp

[Raja Subramani @RajaSubramani22]

@vibione @CMOMaharashtra The government is jealous of any green pockets in the state. In #Pune the list grows. #vetaltekdi #BHS #RamMula #MulaMutha entire river bank........

[ameet singh @ameetgsingh]

Scientific evidence is clear:
Air pollution is a causal driver of mortality, not correlation.

But PMC doesn’t even want to measure the source apportionments never mind fixing the problem.

Will we ever get to breathe clean air ?

@PMCPune @PMCMCO @mpcb_official
#BreathlessPune #AQI400Pune
Info source : https://t.co/o9lfpE5ETp