Green Hills Group has been working for last 10 years in rain water harvesting and tree plantation in Pune hills mainly Hanuman tekadi and Chaturshingi tekadi. They have been successful in converting rocky hanuman tekdi in Greenary in last ten years.
Ravi Purandare, Chairman (Past Secretary) and key founder member of Green Hills group said, “We worked as a small group and then registered as a trust called Green Hills Group. Some of us are retired persons, engineers, businessman , some of us are still at college and some are still working. All of us carry a dream to make hills around Pune Green!”
Purandare gave information about their work on Hanuman tekadi and said, “Hanuman tekdi has four stone quarries at the ground level. We have diverted rain water streams to this quarry by constructing large number of water trenches and making bunds along the slopes. The rain water gets collected in the stone quarry near BalChitravani. Not even a single drop of rain is wasted on hill through this rain harvesting program. 1lakh liter water can be collected from 1 acre of hill. The students from Symbiosis College help members of our group in making of water trenches and other activity like cleaning, watering plants and nourishing plants. We conserve soil by mixing it with dried-up leaves, coconut pit which remains inside soil for longer times helps in breaking capillaries in soil and maintain moisture throughout the year. We have also created open auditorium on hill with the help of Vikas Matakari. Since last ten years we have planted more than thirty thousand trees on this land. As per our experience, the plants of Dongri Amla (Phyllanthus Embelica), Pimple (Ficus Religiosa) , Neem (Azadirachta Indica) , Bartondi (Morindu Cituafolia) , Karanj (Fongamia Clabra), Gulmohar, Jambhul (Engenia Jambolana) , Wad (Ficus Bengalensis) , Apata (Bauhinia Racemosa), Tamarind, Subabul , Shewga (Moringapatery Gosperma) , Bahava (Cassia Fistula) , Gliricidia , Sitaphal (Custard Apple) , Bel (Aegle Marmelos) , Umber (Ficus Glomerata), Karawand are growing much better on the hill top. Also have palnted fruit trees like ‘Tuti’ which can attract birds. With the help of Dr. Mahajan we have started planting more indigenous plants of various varities. Up till now we have 70 different varities of indigenous plants on hill. We have also created some artificial nest and water tank for birds. All these activities mention above results in increase in birds, amphibian and reptile diversity on Hanuman Tekadi.”
With the help of Raja Marathe, recently they carried out experiment of artificial rain which was successful and they are planning to carry out this experiment to fulfill short follow of rain in this season again.
Some people use this place as drinking spot and create chaos. They destroy artificial bird nest and harm the tress which are planted by group. Also garbage is disposed by symbiosis canteen on open space of tekadi.
Purandare also said, “The success in this journey is very slow and is not visible to society for 5 to 6 years. We could manage to overcome many obstacles till now. With faith in nature god we are sure of achieving our dream. There should be practical education for student to conserve nature.”
