The Pune Municipal Corporation has promised to supply water to residents of Panchavati – a locality within Pashan with over 3,000 residents, many of them belonging to the city’s scientist community – in their effort to maintain the greenery in the surrounding hills.

While CDAC has agreed to supply 13 tanks of 1,000 litres and 2,000 litres capacity, the municipal corporation will be supplying the locality with water.

For many months now, residents here have been informally planting trees and watering them, but many of these plantations begin withering with the onset of the dry months.

“We need a permanent situation. During the monsoons it is not so much of a problem, but many plants do not survive during the summer,” said Prajakta Chitre, a member of the Green Panch organisation, recently formed by the residents here.

In a first formal initiative, last week, Madhav Gadgil, an ecologist and a Panchavati resident spoke on preserving bio diversity in Panchavati. Many such talks are being planned to spread awareness amongst citizens.

“It’s a huge task, but it works well if citizens can be mobilized,” said Bhanu Mulay, another Panchavati resident. The organisation is also planning to form bio diversity committees in this area. Out of the 900 acres, earmarked as bio diversity parks by the municipal corporation in Pune, Panchavati has over 120 acres. “We also need to hold dialogues with the Banjara communities to ensure that they do not cut trees; we might also need to fence these areas,” Mulay said. Residents are also planning water harvesting which could be built into water bodies for peacocks, other birds and small animals in the area.