Bhima river basin action plan stuck in red tape

The district collectorate and MPCB had drawn up a Rs 800-crore-odd action plan to address the pollution of Bhima River Basin by 2012. The basin covers Mula,Mutha and Indrayani,Pavan in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas in the district. The action plan was presented to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at a meeting convened last year,also attended by Environment Secretary Valsa Nair Singh and heads of both the civic bodies. The detailed plan was aimed at addressing the minutest of issues.

P K Mirashe of the MPCB said short term measures had already been initiated by the local bodies but some proposals had been forwarded to the Union Government seeking funds. “The DPR once readied will help the civic bodies to carry out implementation,’’said Mirashe. The plan is to be monitored by a secretary-level committee,which will oversee the implementation and budget provisions for the Bhima River basin – including MIDC areas,PMC,PCMC,municipal councils,cantonment boards and zilla parishads.

The state and district-level committees were formed after the health department declared that 70 villages in the district were receiving polluted water. The committee,which studied the data from local bodies for around six months,had drawn out the action plan and this covers all the tributaries of the Bhima River. Former district collector Chandrakant Dalvi,who chaired the meeting for preparing the plan,had noted that the rivers could be cleaned in three years if short and long term measures are followed and the requisite funds made available on time.