Meghana Baphna

Save the Dr. Salim Ali Biodiversity Park

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

@SVYadwadkar I hope the leaders understand this for Pune. Pune is a disaster waiting to happen with the narrowing of the rivers.

[Pune River Revival @PuneRivers]

You can’t cut thousands of trees and then pretend to fix air pollution by spraying water on the road. This is a spectacle, not science. Water spray trucks are not pollution solutions. They’re what you deploy when you don’t want to tackle the real polluters—the industries, the vehicles, the policies.

We also don’t know what quality of water is being sprayed—nor what risks it poses to citizens who breathe it in or walk through it.

If we don’t acknowledge the source, we’ll never reach the solution.

Over the past two years, a massive number of trees—many of them old, dense-canopy species that offered real cooling, dust filtering, and habitat value have been ruthlessly cut for commercial interests. This ongoing ecological loss has been excused in the name of “development” and “rejuvenation.”

Now, with summer temperatures soaring and dust visible everywhere, machines that spray 6,000 litres of water per day—hoping to reduce dust and cool the city are being rolled out.

You cannot replace functioning ecosystems with technology that mimics only one narrow effect—and does it poorly.

What these machines ignore is that trees intercept airborne particles, trap them on their leaves, and absorb pollutants through stomata. This is active filtration over time. Water, on the other hand, runs off or evaporates in minutes.

They also ignore that removing tree cover alters wind patterns, increases local turbulence, and ironically increases dust resuspension from the ground.

Worse still, using water indiscriminately on dry, dusty roads can lead to fine dust particles clumping temporarily, only to break apart into even smaller, more harmful PM2.5 fragments when disturbed again by traffic.

There’s also no mention of how these machines are powered—likely diesel, which adds tailpipe emissions into the very environment they claim to “clean.”

Lastly, this is a city that still burns waste in open plots, allows construction dust to escape unchecked, and has zero ward-level air enforcement teams.

[Hema Chari Madabhushi @mhemachari]

🎼 What good is a voice if you don’t use it ? What good is a mind with no wit ? 🙌

The new generation is reminding us of the severe environment issue that is prevalent.

Today on World Environment Day, we call for action. The climate is changing so why aren’t we?

Fourteen year old, Payoja and Saaisha have written and sung a parody about the extremely important ongoing dilemma ! 🎵

#WorldEnvironmentDay #ActNow

@Warriormomsin @WMMaharashtra @ChaloPmc @ASAPcitizens @VetalTekdi @TamhiniGhat @lalitkathpalia @saveajnivann

[Climate Action Network South Asia @CANSouthAsia]

Climate disasters and multilateral institutions are pushing countries on the front lines of the climate crisis deeper into debt.
#FixTheFinance now!

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

@SalimAli_Bird @DEVESHS67071822 @PuneRiverFront @TheMahaIndex @PuneRivers @punecitywatch @VetalTekdi @jbaphna @ameetgsingh It’s sad, the government is doing this with brut force against the will of the population. It’s not RFD,its purely reclamation of land. The PMC said they will be using natural material! Here they are using plastic for heavens sake!! Shame on them for making it a fancy gutter!!😠

[Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary Pune @SalimAli_Bird]

@DEVESHS67071822 Can you tell how this greenary will survice, when the actual water level is 30ft below, and the bends are covered with plastic sheet, how will river water permeate to ground? @PuneRiverFront @TheMahaIndex @PuneRivers @punecitywatch @VetalTekdi @jbaphna @ameetgsingh

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

@jbaphna Really sad and crazy! People are not getting it that they and their kids are going to suffer for a lack of oxygen. How much greed?

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

@NCAPtracker @PuJoshi @Warriormomsin It’s a really sad state of affairs. It’s crazy polluted everywhere. Especially in Kalyaninagar. The metro construction has ruined this part of town only to benefit a few builders. The pollution is the worst it has ever been.

[Air Outlook @Air_Outlook]

@PuJoshi
Construction debris and vehicular air pollution in Pune causing severe health impacts in residents.
#Pune #AirPollution #AirQuality @Warriormomsin

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

We need to come to the river to see how beautiful the trees by the banks are. There are beautiful ecosystems around the river. The river needs cleaning but not concretizing. We will remain a beautiful city if we leave our trees be. We need our beautiful trees!

[JEEVITNADI Living River Foundation @Jeevitnadi]

This lovely greenery Exists in Pune Urban set up🙏 Let Her Alone!! Is it too much to ask to work towards Her #Protection and #Conservation? @PmcPuneRe @ChDadaPatil @PuneCliC @collectorpune1 @CitizensPune @IndiaRiverForum @ForOikos @Indian_Rivers

[JEEVITNADI Living River Foundation @Jeevitnadi]

This lovely greenery Exists in Pune Urban set up🙏 Let Her Alone!! Is it too much to ask to work towards Her #Protection and #Conservation? @PmcPuneRe @ChDadaPatil @PuneCliC @collectorpune1 @CitizensPune @IndiaRiverForum @ForOikos @Indian_Rivers

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

@jbaphna @PMCPune @PMOIndia They need to use the rejuvenation model put forth by OIKOS. That model is a real rejuvenation model. What the PMC is doing currently is using the public money to benefit a few builders in land grabbing. Pune will flood due to this project and lives will be lost. Wake up Pune.

[sushma date @sushmadate]

The wrath of the river!
PMC's super expensive #RFD project which involves alteration of flood lines, concreting of flood banks and artificial channelizing of the Mula and Mutha will lead to a similar scenario in a few years.

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

@SaveMumbaifore1 Ditto for Pune. Pune is already flood prone and they are narrowing our rivers by reclaiming land by the river banks under the guise of development. Rivers in Pune need cleaning not beautifying. They're killing lakhs of trees over an 88 km stretch and burying the non numbered ones

[Save Mumbai's forests @SaveMumbaifore1]

Existing roads under water within minutes of rainfall &to add more to this crisis they've concretised 111 hectares of sea for a coastal road & building 8 lane highway,bullet train under/through Sgnp thus turning Mumbai into a grill owen in summers & a water park in monsoon.

[Dr Gerald Kutney | Climate Politics @DrKutney]

This visualization ... using the visual metaphor of looking out the porthole of a boat and watching years of sea level rise transpire. When played on a 4K 85" display, the measurement markings in the video are accurate to the real world.

https://t.co/UUX3RAsJzn

#ClimateBrawl

[Meghana Baphna @meghanab12]

My God! Smoking gun indeed. The real reason why they want to kill Vetal Tekdi😡

[sushma date @sushmadate]

A-HA!!
We have stumbled upon the smoking gun!
Buried in the depths of Vol 3(part 1) of the Detailed Project Report for BB road, between sheaves and sheaves of numbers, we found this VERY interesting map of  Survey 44. on Vetal tekdi.
Is this the real reason for the road?😲