Pune’s green cover remains at just 10% of the 249 sq km area within the city’s old limits, despite the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) spending ₹ 108.26 crore on park maintenance and repairs over the past five financial years.
The figures raise questions over the impact of spending on urban greenery as rapid construction and concretisation continue to shrink open spaces. The data was submitted in a written reply to a question by Congress group leader Adv Chandu Kadam ahead of the PMC general body meeting scheduled for August. The parks account for only a fraction of the city’s overall green cover, which also includes hills, tree-covered open spaces, green belts, roadside plantations and other naturally vegetated areas. However, actual green cover is defined by the forest and foliage canopy visible from above.
The city has 27.90 sq km of green cover, according to data submitted by the civic administration. The PMC said its garden department has developed 215 parks covering 2,453,573 sq m, or about 2.45 sq km. The census proposal has been submitted to the PMC Standing Committee for approval and will also cover the 23 newly merged fringe villages.
With modern drone technology, we can assess canopy density far more accurately,” said Ashok Ghorpade, chief superintendent of the PMC garden department.
“Previously, green cover was calculated indirectly using tree counts relative to population.
However, the civic body also needs coordination among departments dealing with roads, town planning, land acquisition and development permissions to ensure that green spaces are not lost to urban development,” he said. “The garden department has an important role in maintaining public parks and developing new gardens. The National Forest Policy, 1988 envisages forest and tree cover over 33% of India’s geographical area. For urban areas, government planning guidelines use additional benchmarks such as 10–12 sq m of green/open space per person.
Dr Sachin Punekar, conservation biologist and former member of the PMC Tree Authority committee, said protecting the city’s greenery requires coordination beyond the garden department.
