Over 25,000 people signed petitions in just days to protect the city’s hills from construction. That’s not casual activism. That’s collective alarm. Pune has experienced a 300 percent increase in city areas over the past decade. The municipal corporation merged 34 villages into city limits between 2017 and 2021, converting farmland into urban sprawl at a pace that outstrips ecological adaptation. The hills that once defined Pune’s identity now face development pressure from every angle.
These hills aren’t scenic backdrops. They regulate city temperatures, recharge groundwater through basalt aquifers, sequester carbon, and support endemic species that can’t survive elsewhere. Remove them, and you don’t just lose green space. You lose the systems keeping the city livable.
The Green Pune Movement organized the resistance. For over 40 years, residents have fought to save Vetal Tekdi, the city’s highest hill. Each battle forced authorities back. But the pressure never stops. Developers see land. Residents see survival systems.
The damage would be concrete. Experts warn that proceeding with construction would destroy at least 7,000 trees, disrupt groundwater recharge zones, and fragment wildlife corridors. Even limited construction triggers cascading damage because supporting infrastructure requires excavation beyond the building footprint. Roads, water tanks, utilities—they all demand their piece of the hill.
The groundwater risk alone should stop this. Pune’s annual urban groundwater footprint exceeds 100 million cubic meters, sustained by 14 basalt aquifers. Seven of those aquifers sit within Vetal Hill catchments. Any infrastructure in that zone compromises recharge, storage, and flow functions. In a city already facing water stress, that’s not a trade-off. That’s a crisis accelerator.
Growing cities face this tension everywhere. Development creates jobs, housing, infrastructure. But when it consumes the ecological systems that make cities habitable, you’re not building for the future. You’re liquidating it.
Pune’s residents recognize this. The petition signatures represent a cross-section of the city, not just environmental activists. Teachers, engineers, parents, retirees. People who understand that concrete doesn’t regulate temperature or recharge aquifers.
The mobilization speed answers one question. Pune’s residents know what they’re fighting for.
Whether 25,000 signatures can stop what’s coming is another question entirely.