HC calls status quo: A step towards saving Pune’s Dr Salim Ali bird sanctuary

The Bombay high court hearing on Wednesday ordered status quo regarding the two acres of land against which a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed. The forested land earmarked for the Dr Salim Ali Bird sanctuary, was later reserved for the state’s new development plan (DP).

Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice M S Karnik, ordered status quo now preventing any parties involved in the dispute from taking action until the matter is resolved, which the activist who filed the PIL consider a major step towards saving the bird sanctuary.

Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel Aspi Chinoy and Soma Singh, pointed out the “arbitrary manner’’ in which two acres, in the middle of a large stretch of land running along the Mula-Mutha river in Kalyaninagar — designated as a bird sanctuary since the 1966 DP for Pune — has been dereserved and released to a builder, resulting in a break of contiguity for the reserve.

While one of the petitioners Satish Khot who was former president of the National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC) Pune considered it inappropriate to comment anything until the order by HC comes out, Dharmaraj Patil, an ornithologist has claimed this as a big step towards saving the bird sanctuary.

He said, “The remarkable high court order has now got all the stake holders involved in this on the same page. While we welcome the HC order, we will continue our fight towards saving one of the most important green belt of the country.”