As a riverfront plan advances, ecologists warn of damage to floodplains, biodiversity

Pune’s Riverfront Development Project along the Mula-Mutha, is progressing, with 80% work completed on the priority stretch.
However, as construction continues, environmentalists raise concerns about risk of floods, loss of riparian ecosystems and gaps in environmental clearances.
The debate around Pune’s riverfront reflects larger questions that many growing Indian cities face about how to plan development, while protecting natural systems that prevent floods and droughts.

Along the Mula-Mutha river in Pune city, stretches of the riverbank have been fenced off, trees marked for removal and concrete walls rising. These are the visible signs of Pune’s Riverfront Development (RFD) project, currently estimated to cost ₹4,727 crores. However, as construction continues, so do questions about its ecological impact.

Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati riverfront, which has inspired Pune’s design, was submerged during monsoon this year. A report from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has also warned that Pune will continue to face intense rainfall in the coming years. Environmentalists and citizen groups argue that these warnings remain missing from the project planning, even as ecological disruption is increasingly evident on ground.

According to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), work on multiple stretches of the RFD is underway, with the priority stretch between Sangamwadi and Bund Garden reportedly 80% complete. “This project has been planned with citizens’ welfare in mind,” an official from the PMC project department told Mongabay-India, on condition of anonymity. “It is fully safe for the city, and its design also ensures effective flood control.”

Lessons from Ahmedabad

Mansee Bal Bhargava, a senior scientist at the University of Oldenburg in Germany, who has regularly voiced her thoughts on Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati project, said, “The Sabarmati riverfront was the first experiment. However, without any modification, it has now become the policy guideline for riverfronts across the country.” She added that when a model like this is repeated, one has to learn from it and improve.

“Because of the riverfront, not only has the river changed, but the entire ecology of Ahmedabad is different now,” Bhargava said. “The designer was only interested in designing the land, not the water.”

Ongoing riverfront construction in September 2025 along the Mula-Mutha river in Pune, between Sangamwadi and Bund Garden, as part of the ₹4,727-crore Riverfront Development project. Image by Stephin Thomas.

The Mula-Mutha river flows beneath the SM Joshi Bridge, where it has become polluted, and riverfront areas left littered. Image by Stephin Thomas.

A growing citizens’ movement

Despite construction, public opposition has grown. Pune River Revival, a coalition of over 85 organisations, was launched in 2023, using chain fasting, Chipko-style protests and large-scale tree-mapping drives to highlight the ecological costs of the RFD project. “When we first started this movement, we focused on making people aware of Pune’s situation and its unique location,” said Shailaja Deshpande, founder of Jeevitnadi Living River Foundation, a non-profit. She added that Pune lies in the transition zone between the Western Ghats and the floodplains. Streams and tributaries converge here to form the Mula-Mutha, which she described as “the city’s only outlet” to let water out. “To raise awareness, we also conducted tree-mapping exercises, and citizens have mapped more than 3,000 trees till now,” she said.

Poornima Suresh, a volunteer with the network, said, “Through the tree-mapping activity, we are building a record of the existing trees in the forest, including their photos and location. Sadly, some of those trees are already gone. But their record remains, proof of the impact they had.”

A sacred grove at the centre of legal action

Since 2017, the Jeevitnadi Living River Foundation has adopted and cared for several river stretches in Pune, documenting biodiversity through years of data collection. Citizen campaigns helped trigger two site visits and a Supreme Court order halting riverfront work at the Ram-Mula site to protect an old sacred grove (Devrai).

“Protecting the Ram-Mula Devrai is not just about saving trees; it’s about preserving an ecosystem that stabilises land, recharges groundwater and holds cultural memory,” said environmentalist Vandana Chaudhary.

Deshpande of Jeevitnadi added that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to verify and prepare an action-taken report. Forest officers inspected the site and recommended reserving it as protected land. “If approved by MoEFCC, it could become the first community reserve forest located in an urban-edge ecotone (between two ecosystems), and created through citizen-led movements and scientific evidence,” she said.

Deshpande added that the grove’s vegetation consists of species adapted to both aquatic and terrestrial environments, crucial for flood and drought resilience.

Members of the Pune River Revival, a coalition of more than 85 organisations, launched in 2023 to raise awareness about Pune’s unique location in the transition zone between the Western Ghats and the floodplains. Image courtesy of Pune River Revival. — Members of the Pune River Revival, a coalition of more than 85 organisations, launched in 2023 to raise awareness about Pune’s unique location in the transition zone between the Western Ghats and the floodplains. They have opposed the riverfront construction. Image courtesy of Pune River Revival.

Pune River Revival conducts tree-mapping exercises of more than 3,000 trees so far. Through this activity, they are building a record of the existing trees in the forest, including their photos and location. Unfortunately, some of the trees mapped have already been felled for the project. Image courtesy of Pune River Revival. — Pune River Revival conducts tree-mapping exercises of more than 3,000 trees so far. Through this activity, they are building a record of the existing trees in the forest, including their photos and location. Some of the trees mapped have already been felled for the riverfront project. Image courtesy of Pune River Revival.

Legal battles intensify

On November 24, 2024, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) granted a second environmental clearance for the RFD.

Environmental activist and architect, Sarang Yadwadkar has filed multiple petitions against the project said, “We have again challenged the second environmental clearance because the outcome of their own study shows that there will be a steep rise in the flood levels.” He added that mandatory considerations such as flows from free catchment areas and confluence effect, have not been accounted for.

Earlier, the NGT had directed Pune’s municipal corporation to amend its environmental clearance, realising that it was flawed. “PMC had already started work on three of the eleven stretches,” Yadwadkar said. “The NGT’s final order told them to stop work until they obtained the amended clearance, but they continued. So, we filed a contempt petition. During that hearing, the NGT took a U-turn and said that it is in public interest, since work had already begun on those three stretches, PMC can continue there but cannot start work on the remaining stretches.”

Simultaneously, a separate NGT direction halted tree felling until environmental clearance was obtained.

Experts question PMC’s tree replantation plan

The PMC says it plans to replant 45,000 trees under the project. However, environmentalists warn that plantations cannot replace natural riparian ecosystems.

Deshpande said they may be native trees, but these are not riparian species. “Riparian species naturally come on the riverbank, which is the difference between a natural forest and a plantation,” she added. “A plantation will not support aquatic life, which depends on naturally growing riverbank vegetation. The interdependent food chain between land and water will not exist, even if you plant double the number of trees. There is also a question mark on the survival rates of those trees. Riparian forest is an integral part of a freshwater river system.”

Trees planted as part of the riverfront development project. Pune Municipal Corporation says it plans to replant 45,000 trees under the project. However, environmentalists warn that plantations cannot replace natural riparian ecosystems as they cannot support aquatic life, which depends on naturally growing riverbank vegetation. Image by Stephin Thomas.

River rejuvenation or just beautification?

Before the RFD took shape, a separate Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sewage treatment project (STP) was initiated in 2015 with a total budget of ₹990.26 crore. According to the PMC website, JICA approved loans through the central government, with the Centre sanctioning ₹841.72 crore (85%) and PMC contributing ₹148.54 crore (15%).

Almost a decade later, the project still is not fully operational and has faced multiple delays. “Payments to the contractor can be made only after funds reach the PMC, so any delay in fund transfer leads to delays in contractor payments and ultimately slows down the project,” said Kailas Karale, Executive Engineer, Drainage Department, PMC.

He added that there has been a delay in transferring possession of land at some STP project sites to the PMC. “Since hard strata for foundations were not available at most STP sites, pile foundations had to be adopted. Tanajiwadi STP work has been delayed due to opposition from locals. The Botanical Garden STP land is still not in PMC’s possession, so work there cannot begin.”

However, environmentalists argue that the fundamental problem lies deeper. “None of the STPs in Pune are functioning according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) standards,” Deshpande said.

The debate around Pune’s riverfront reflects a larger question that many growing Indian cities face: How do we plan development, while protecting natural systems that keep us safe during floods and droughts? For the Mula-Mutha, the answer is still unclear. The riverfront continues to grow, but so do concerns from citizens and experts. Whether the city chooses an approach rooted in ecological restoration or one focused on urban beautification will shape how safely it can navigate a future of more extreme rainfall.

Banner image: According to the Pune Municipal Corporation, the priority stretch between Sangamwadi and Bund Garden is nearly complete. Image by Stephin Thomas.