Parisar was founded in the 1980s, one of its main themes being the rapidly changing urban environment as a result of urban development. Pune has been blessed with rich environmental heriatge, be it the river, lakes or the numerous hills, locally called 'tekdis', that are dotted on Pune's terrain. These hills provide recreational areas, open spaces and much needed green cover for the city to breathe. However, Pune's hills have been rapidly being compromised due to construction and road building. With an aim of preserving and rejuvenating one such hill in Pune, Parisar collaborated with Vasundhara Abhiyan for greening of the Tukai Hill at Baner.
Beautiful sunset viewed from the Tukai Hill
Vasundhara Abhiyan, Pune is an NGO consistently working since 2006 on the Baner-Pashan Hill. The activities on the hill include carrying out tree plantation and conservation, soil conservation and rain water harvesting - helping urban environment to grow in bio diversity, creating awareness in citizens, schools and companies for greener tomorrow.
Description of activities carried out:
Below are the major environmental activities carried out by Vasundhara Abhiyan on daily basis.
1. Tree plantation and conservation Various types of plants are being planted every year in large numbers on Baner hill. To conserve plants, construction of each water tank is done by Vasundhara Volunteers. It also includes transportation of raw material like bricks, cement, crush, metal and water.
2. Bio-diversity conservation Great results are seen from last few years in growth of bio-diversity due to organic maintenance methods, using native plant palette and cleaning and maintaining natural habitats on hill. More than 25000 trees of 350 different indigenous species have been planted on the hill.
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3. Rain water harvesting and soil conservation Vasundhara Abhiyan has gained special expertise in constructing Continuous Contour Trench(CCT) and Bund. It helps to harvest rain water and conserve soil on different plateaus on hill. 40 small bunds have been built for rain water harvesting.
4. Environmental education and awareness campaigns Vasundhara Abhiyan works closely with schools, multiple organizations and citizens to spread environmental education and awareness by conducting seminars, presentations and events like drawing competitions etc.
5. Social activities Being responsible organization, Vasundhara Abhiyan always tries to social activities like Blood donation, cleanup work at nearby deteriorating forts, speedily vanishing rivers and canals flowing through cities. We also work closely with Pani Foundation in every summer. They encouragd volunteers to work on the hill and also plan for large group volunteering programmes from companies and educational iinstitutes.
Parisar team has also visited the hill several times and experienced the change they have brought about by the consistent hard work.
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Parisar team visits - in 2016 and recently in September 2020