Pune: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Lonavala Municipal Council to demolish all illegal constructions and earth-filling carried out by activist Prakash Porwal on the Indrayani river and recover Rs30 lakh from him towards restoration. In its order dated Aug 21, uploaded on the tribunal’s website on Sept 3, NGT stated that Porwal repeatedly dumped soil and created an approach passage on survey no. 24 in Lonavala, in violation of its 2020 order that was later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2023. Despite multiple demolitions by the local body on the past one-and-a-half years, Porwal allegedly rebuilt the structures and even installed a gate leading to his bungalow, obstructing the natural river flow, said the tribunal.The CEO of the Lonavala Municipal Council (LMC) informed the tribunal that the civic body already spent around Rs20 lakh on restoration and would need an additional Rs10 lakh. Following this, NGT directed that Rs30 lakh be recovered from Porwal. The case was originally filed in 2018 by Lonavala resident Suresh Pujari, citing violations of environmental norms. The NGT bench in 2020 passed an order directing the municipal council to remove the illegal structures. The tribunal also imposed a fine against the LMC after it failed to comply with its order, following which the civic body demolished the structure, but it was reconstructed again by Porwal. Earlier, in Nov last year, Pujari, in his letter to the district collector, highlighted the matter stating that SC and NGT’s orders were repeatedly being violated and urged the authorities to take immediate action. However, the civic body did not initiate any demolition action. LMC CEO Ashok Sabale told TOI, “We will follow the court’s order, and the illegal structure will be demolished soon with police protection after Ganesh immersion is over.” He added that two FIRs were registered against Porwal in the past for obstructing civic action despite repeated court directives. The NGT bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and expert member Vijay Kulkarni also directed the Pune rural SP to extend police support to municipal officers during the demolition. The order further instructed the civic body to expedite pending cases against Porwal and ensure the construction of a proper wall along the main road at the site to prevent obstruction of the Indrayani river’s flow. Environmental activists earlier flagged repeated violations of court orders and accused Porwal of damaging the river ecosystem. Repeated calls and messages to Porwal by TOI were unanswered till the time of going to press.
