Pune: Citizens are questioning the forest department’s activities on Vetal Tekdi, after official billing and payment documents showed that pre-monsoon project work was conducted on the hill in Jan this year, but daily tekdi visitors countered that it only took place months later in May.A Right to Information (RTI) query by a city resident on July 28 this year revealed these inconsistencies. She told TOI that she filed the application after learning that aspects of the project didn’t add up. The citizen received a reply on Aug 27 from the Pune-based office of the chief conservator of forests (CFC). The documents revealed that Jan 5-25, 2026, is the work period shown for survey nos. 96/97 on Vetal Tekdi — both in payment vouchers issued by the forest department and invoices for ‘pre-plantation work’ raised by contractors. The department also paid six workers Rs79,008 in total for spreading organic waste and coco peat on the same hectare on Jan 7-30, 2026, as per documents. But the on-ground story differs. “I was on Vetal Tekdi on the morning of May 15 with two officers of Pune forest department, when they came to select a site for gliricidia cutting,” said Yogesh Alandkar, who visits the hill daily for a walk. “After a short inspection, they decided on one hectare next to the parking lot on survey nos. 96/97. As seen in photos I took that day, a dense gliricidia forest was intact as of that morning. Earthmovers came at 3pm and large-scale uprooting of trees began. There was no tree count, bark measurements, or marking and numbering of trees prior to removal. Trees were removed within hours of site selection,” Alandkar told TOI. A post regarding this event was also made on the ‘Vetal Tekdi’ Facebook group on May 16. Similarly, ecologist Kedar Champhekar said, “I visit the tekdi at least twice a month and when I went on the morning of May 15, gliricidia trees were clearly still present at the spot in question. If they had removed them in Jan, active citizens would have intervened then, just like we raised questions when they started removing them in May. I even asked the official present to send me the list of trees they were going to plant, which he showed me on his phone at the time.”Now, data received via RTI, juxtaposed with their own experience, has left tekdi regulars confused. DATES AND TIMELINESAs per the RTI response, invoices (usually raised after work is done) were dated March 26, 2026 — for deep digging using an earthmover and spreading of coco peat and compost on survey nos. 96/97 (next to the first parking lot) on Vetal Tekdi. These invoices are made out for two contractors at a cost of Rs2.4 lakh each under Bhamburda region. Invoices as well as payment vouchers, signed by the range forest officer (RFO), show that work duration for both bills was Jan 5-25, 2026. But with work witnessed in May, citizens have raised doubts about the invoices submitted by contractors and payment vouchers signed by the forest guard, forester and RFO. Similar issues are present in documents, received via the same RTI, for two more hectares under survey no. 102 on Vetal Tekdi — one hectare behind MIT and one behind Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE). Behind ARDE, the paper trail shows that the department hired an earthmover for digging from Jan 5-25, 2026, for Rs2.4 lakh. The invoice is dated March 27, 2026. A second earthmover was also hired for the same plot, same Jan period and same cost, against an invoice dated March 30, 2026. For digging work on the hectare behind MIT, the forest department hired two other earthmovers for a work period of March 5-25, 2026, for Rs2.4 lakh each. The invoice for one is dated March 26, 2026, and the other is dated March 30 this year. Once again, the on-ground reality contradicts paperwork, claimed residents. Alandkar said, “Gliricidia trees on these two hectares as well were removed between the last week of April and first week of May. Photos of earthmovers were shared on May 7 by a member on our tekdi WhatsApp group.” Citizen activist Akshay Jain said, “If deep digging on these sites happened in April and May, as witnessed by our daily hill-goers, how can labour be paid for spreading compost and coco peat on the same plots in Jan and March?”“Why have forest officials shown work done in Jan and March as pre-monsoon works, when nothing was done till May? Someone must take responsibility. It is not just about removing an invasive species (gliricidia) or planting one that is extremely water-intensive (Miyawaki). The problem is lack of transparency on official documents. It is hard-earned taxpayers’ money being misused and must be investigated,” he added. Jain also sent an email on Sept 16 this year to principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) M Srinivasa Rao and state minister for forests Ganesh Naik on issue. He has received no response till date.OFFICIAL TAKE TOI, after reviewing the RTI details, contacted CFC Ashish Thakare. He said, “My office is only responsible for sending proposals and releasing funds. I am not aware of this issue and cannot comment on it till I have more information.” He then directed this reporter to deputy conservator of forests (DCF) Abhijit Waykos. Waykos said he joined this posting only in July 2026 and would not be able to comment without investigating the issue. He directed this reporter to the assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Vishal Chavan. The ACF organised a meeting with range forest officer (RFO) Manoj Barbole, Bhamburda region in-charge, on Oct 12. During this meeting, RFO Barbole and ACF Chavan both said all due processes had been followed. “The paperwork done in March was for disbursement of funds — not to do the work. We have also collected written statements in Aug 2026 from a few residents after we started receiving several complaints about gliricidia cutting,” Barbole told TOI, adding, “Some are against eradication of gliricidia, but many also want its removal and planting of native trees instead.” On Oct 13, this reporter met the ACF and RFO again, along with citizens PS Kulkarni, Venkatesh Reddy and Ashish Jagtap, who all said they were tekdi regulars. “I have been visiting the tekdi for over a decade and work on planting trees there. I saw gliricidia being removed in Jan and was happy that they were doing it. The cutting, as far as I know, was done in phases,” Kulkarni, an engineer, told TOI. Reddy and Jagtap stated a similar timeline. At this meeting, TOI also showed the ACF and RFO satellite images taken by a resident via the Sentinel 2 satellite managed by the Copernicus Programme of the European Space Agency, dated May 8 and 28, 2026. In the May 8 image, one can see that survey nos. 96/97 is still green, indicating some vegetation, while the May 28 image shows a brown (barren) patch of land. Asked why the patch was green on May 8, but brown on May 28, Barbole said, “Gliricidia must have been cut and left on the ground, then cleared later, which is why May 28 shows cleared land.” To note, these images fall in line with the timeline laid out by the section of residents who are asking: If pre-monsoon work (deep digging by earthmovers and spreading of materials by six workers) was done in Jan as per forest department officials, how was it done without removing cuttings of gliricidia trees (allegedly cleared in May)? WORK FIRST, PROPOSAL LATER A second RTI application was filed by another city resident on Sept 2, 2026, after he learned of contradictory information in the July RTI. This fresh RTI response, which came on Sept 28 from the Nagpur-based office of the PCCF, pointed out that proposals for Miyawaki plantation on a total of 68 hectares across Pune district were only sent in March 2026. The proposal then post-dates completion of project-related work, as indicated in the invoices.The proposal as seen by this TOI reporter — sent on March 18 this year and signed by CFC Thakare — was under the subject title ‘New proposal for work to be carried out under the afforestation scheme (4406 0492) for the financial year 2025-26’.It included a proposal for pre-monsoon work to facilitate Miyawaki plantation on 32 hectares in total in Bhamburda (including three hectares on Vetal Tekdi), Wadgaon Maval and Paud forest areas, at a collective cost of Rs597.1 lakh. So, the earthmover work duration mentioned on the invoices precedes the proposal sent to initiate this work by around two-and-a-half months for one hectare of land on survey nos.96/97, and one more hectare on survey no. 102. Asked why, ACF Chavan said that the proposal for these sites was sent in Dec 2025 and not March 2026. However, when asked to show proof, he was not able to do so, despite several reminders. While all these proposals mention Miyawaki plantation, none of them mention prior removal of gliricidia forests on those sites. Two GRs downloaded from the Maharashtra govt website show that the Miyawaki proposals (along with similar proposals from other parts of the state) were approved on March 24 and 28 this year. If proposals for work on selected sites were sent on various dates in March and approved only in GRs on March 24 and 28, citizens ask: How can invoices also submitted in March show the work period to be Jan for two hectares, and March 5 for a third hectare on Vetal Tekdi?NOT JUST ON VETAL TEKDIResidents pointed out that gliricidia removal is under way in several parts of Pune, with reports from Katraj, Wagholi and Kothrud of such felling without prior notice. Ironically, this gliricidia was planted by the same forest department in the 1990s, under Central govt’s Harit Yojana, in an bid to replenish soil nitrogen and reduce soil erosion on hills that host a grassland and thorny scrub forest ecosystem. Today, amid fears of water scarcity in the foreseeable future, citizens are also questioning the need to remove vegetation that already exists and replacing it with water-intensive Miyawaki plantation (see graphic below for details). “If there is some activity on one hill, it could repeat at other spots, too. Until doubts are reviewed, all gliricidia cutting must be halted,” Jain said. Yet another Pune resident has also sent an email to Bhupendra Yadav, Union minister of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), requesting him to investigate funding and implementation of the Miyawaki project in the district. In the email, the regular tekdi goer, who spoke to TOI on condition of anonymity, asked whether permissions were given for cutting thousands of gliricidia trees on any of the 68 hectares where Miyawaki is being implemented. Echoing sentiments of many green warriors, tekdi regular Avanti Gadgil said, “If removing lakhs of gliricidia trees is so vital, there should be a proper process authorising it, especially from a reserved forest area, along with an audit of the wood obtained and its auction. Since this does not appear to have occurred, we urgently request intervention of higher authorities. Until a proper investigation is carried out, no further removal of gliricidia or any other trees should be carried out under Pune forest division.” Hill regular and Vetal Tekdi Bachao Kruti Samiti (VTBKS) member Dr Sumita Kale, said, “Our organisation’s volunteers have long supported and worked with the forest department in plantation, cleanup drives, and protecting Vetal Tekdi as a natural green space. We were shocked by their claims that gliricidia removal and pre-plantation activities took place between Jan and March this year. Due process must be followed.”
