Green Belt Development for Industries in Khalapur, Panvel.

New plants in Khalapur usually start on bare farm plots, and their green-belt condition is a chance to plant properly from the start. The belt goes where it does most work: separating the plant from the nearest village, along the highway frontage, and around storage yards. The soil is thin red earth over rock in places, so we dig deep pits, improve the soil and choose native trees suited to a long dry season. Planting begins in the first rains after the compound wall is built.

Khalapur is the taluka east of Panvel, through which the expressway to Pune and the old highway climb towards Khopoli and the Sahyadri ghat. It lies outside the municipal corporation and is a different kind of place from the CIDCO nodes. Factories and warehouses stand along the highways and around Khopoli, some of them large process plants; between them are farmland, villages, weekend homes, resorts and a theme park. The Patalganga river runs through the taluka, and forested hills rise on its eastern and southern sides. Land here is still being converted from farm to industry and leisure.