Pune: A member of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) visited key stretches of the Mula River on Saturday following concerns raised by citizens and environmental groups over the ecological impact of ongoing and proposed riverfront development projects.Member of SC-appointed CEC visited stretches of Mula River on Saturday following concerns raised by citizens and environmental groups over ecological impact of riverfront development projects. (HT)CEC member Anjan Kumar Mohanty inspected the Ram–Mula confluence, Balewadi, Dada Ghat and Sangvi stretches of the river. During the visit, citizens and conservationists highlighted the presence of riparian forests, wetlands, springs and wildlife habitats along the riverbanks, which they fear could be affected by development activities.They have been urging authorities for several months to recognise these ecologically sensitive riparian zones as “deemed forests”.They also raised concerns over debris dumping, tree felling and the disruption of wildlife movement corridors.Mohanty interacted with citizens, forest officials and civic authorities during the site visit and sought details about the biodiversity and ecological conditions along the river. Activists informed him that more than 450 species of flora and fauna have been documented within an approximately 800-metre stretch of the river corridor. The observations have been recorded on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database.The CEC member also visited the Mula riverbank near Dada Smashan Bhumi and a biodiversity-rich riparian stretch in Sangvi on the Pimpri-Chinchwad side of the river.Following the field visit, a meeting was held at Van Bhavan, where environmentalists presented details of ecologically sensitive sites along Pune’s rivers and reiterated the need to conserve the remaining riparian forests and biodiversity-rich river corridors in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.Officials from forest department, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), and members of the Pune River Revival collective accompanied the CEC member.“We hope the CEC will consider these concerns and recommend protection for Pune’s riparian forests under the “deemed forest” category,” said Shailaja Deshpande of Jeevitnadi and Pune River Revival.