Pune's rising migrant population negates gains in going green

Increasing population, mainly due to migration, is putting significant strain on the civic amenities in the city and adversely affecting the environment of Pune.

Additional municipal commissioner Naresh Zurmure, who prepared the Environment Status Report (ESR) of Pune for 2010-11, was speaking to reporters after presenting it before the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) general body on
Tuesday.

He said the environment performance index of Pune was decided on the basis of 65 parameters set by the Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB) for the ESR.

This year the index of the city is 696, up by only one point from last year.

He said that among the four thematic indicators of environment, the performance of the city on account of growth of city has been reduced from 141 (last year) to 115 this year.

The reduction is due to increase in population and slums.
Zurmure said the city’s performance has improved regarding indicators like resources, infrastructure and initiative for environment conservation.

Due to increase in points regarding these indicators, the reduction in the score of 26 points because of growth of the city population was offset, and ultimately the final index is up by one point.

He said there are about 3 lakh migrant students and 3.5 lakh migrant labourers in the city.

The parameters for deciding environment performance index include land use, air and water quality, energy usage, sewerage and sanitation, solid waste management, transport, environment awareness and education, slum improvement and traffic.

The additional municipal commissioner said the administration would take into account the impact of various projects in the city on environment while making provisions in the next civic budget.

The provision would be made in such a manner that implementation of those projects would improve the environment performance index of the city.