PUNE: Activists have urged the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Maha-Metro to stop construction around the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Yerawada and formally recognise the 20-acre plot as a protected area The Bombay high court’s order on Wednesday telling the authorities to maintain status quo of the forested land in the sanctuary is a shot-in-the-arm but the future of the sanctuary still hangs in balance, they said.The development plan has the Kharadi-Shivane road cutting through the sanctuary and the MahaMetro is planning to shift the Pune Metro’s alignment on Ahmednagar Road close to this green space which can destroy its ecosystem altogether for migratory birds.“Birds need open skies to fly, land, and take off. The Metro will completely block that out. The birds may stop coming here altogether. The future of this sanctuary lies in the hands of the courts and the PMC,” Dharmaraj Patil, an ornithologist, who coordinated a human chain last week, to raise awareness over the sanctuary, said.Construction of the Kharadi-Shivane road has already started. A number of trees at the Kalyaninagar and at Yerawada ends of the sanctuary have been cut to clear the way.Other birders said even before the construction began, bird arrivals have been steadily declining along with the ecosystems on the river. A shallow water level, rapids formed due to rocks, and the resulting oxygenation made the area ideal for the arrival and breeding of migratory birds.“The entire river up to Ujani Dam is sullied with sewage and effluents. Hyacinth and fish like tilapia in the river are both indicators of high pollution. Birds cannot breed properly and the chicks are dying young. Amid all this, it seems unwise to build the road. During the monsoon, it may go under water as it it along the river. The authorities must formally declare the area as protected, and halt any further construction,” Satish Pande, ornithologist from Ela Foundation, said.Others said the proposed alignment skirting the sanctuary would make it unviable for public use. “The Metro is not a bright idea. If it goes through the sanctuary and then through Kalyaninagar, people will not be able to live, forget the birds,” Satish Khot, from the Public Concern for Governance Trust, who filed the PIL in the Bombay high court said.Yet others stressed that the area was worth saving for its green expanse, one of the few remaining in the city. “Other than the tekdis, this sanctuary is the only large green space in the city. There should be a creative way to build the road,” activist Meghna Baphna added.

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