Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures
The latter further claimed that PMC has already ignored guidelines for tree-cutting permissions as listed in the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act of 1975, and felled over 100 trees at the location. Now, as per the residents, the fate of over 350 more trees hangs in the balance to pave the way for the road, and of 200 more trees on an adjacent amenity space for an old age home, which was approved in a standing committee meeting on June 22 this year. On Sept 17, residents heard the sound of trees being sawed and rushed to the site, by which time they said 40-50 trees had already been cut. Two of these could have been more than 50 years old and classified as heritage trees, said residents, adding that many more such irreplaceable heritage trees can be found at the location. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials have said that a total of 467 trees are to be felled for the road project, of which 318 will be transplanted. The docket is usually valid only for three months, but in this case, they have given repeated extensions to a 2023 docket, which is unlawful,” alleged one of the protesting residents, Monica Joshi. Living in the locality since 2003, Mangesh Tadvalkar said, “I regret surrendering my Green Card and returning to India from the US, given how we have to fight for something as basic as green cover. Authorities say transplantation will happen, but its success rate is less than 10%. In an adjacent plot, there are another 200-odd trees marked to be felled for an old age home that was recently given a nod. “The permission was given in 2023 after due process and while the docket has a validity of three months, the permission given can be extended based on the commissioner’s discretion.
The trees were mostly being cut at night so that citizens would be unaware of what is happening. Besides the lack of procedural decorum, residents are also bothered by how much green cover will be lost to a single road.
Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Residents of Kothrud say trees have been felled in secrecy on the plot without following legal procedures Pune: An urban mini-forest in the heart of Kothrud is being sacrificed willy-nilly for a development plan (DP) road, according to area residents. The axing continued over the next few days, they said. Even the chopped wood was carried out in big trucks early in the morning or at night,” said Uma Tadvalkar, a long-time resident of the neighbourhood. The entire project seems to be shrouded in secrecy, said Sushma Date, member of the Vetal Tekdi Bachao Kruti Samiti and a citizen-activist fighting for green causes. As this is a public amenity space, all details regarding this plot must be made public, yet neither the elected representatives nor the civic authorities are providing answers,” Date said. In this case, we have got complaints about the docket, but nothing about the trees being cut at night or any other such incident,” she said.
“Just two weeks ago, we suddenly found aluminium sheets put up around the plot, which is a public space. “Why so much secrecy if everything is being done by the book? Kothrud is fast becoming a concrete jungle, with high-rises in every direction. Trees give much-needed respite from rising temperatures. During elections, all those contesting had promised to support the green cause. Where are they now?” she questioned. When residents questioned civic officials for details and failed to get satisfactory answers, one of them wrote an email to Union minister of environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav last week seeking intervention. Yadav’s office immediately sent an email to the PMC commissioner, Pune district collector, divisional magistrate, state govt and other officials, instructing them to take the appropriate and necessary action. “There are a lot of issues with the process being followed to cut trees at this site. To begin with, the law states that for tree felling, the procedure is to release a docket, call for objections, hold a hearing and then make a decision. She added, “The trees in this forest are of native species like chandan (sandalwood), kala shirish, pandhra shirish, putravati and others. Some had nests on them when they were axed, which is also illegal under the Tree Act. Also, what has PMC done with the wood? Sandalwood is very valuable. There is no need to cut down trees here or build the road, and yet it will be done for some frivolous reason. Meanwhile, the temperature in Kothrud continues to rise. Who is all this development for, if residents are left suffering? “There seems to be no obvious traffic purpose for the road, so why this desperate rush to build it? Is it to provide access to the huge mall coming up adjacent to the forest? Citizens had raised several such questions, which PMC officials and even corporators were unable to answer. When TOI reached out to Warje-Karvenagar ward officer Asmita Tambe, who is also the tree officer for this area, she claimed that due process was followed and all decisions were taken at the higher level. Once the permission is given, the matter is technically out of the tree officer’s hands, unless someone makes a very specific complaint.
The road was sanctioned in the 1987 DP and again in the 2017 one, too. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in Pune Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Rajesh Bankar, chief engineer of the PMC road department, echoed that procedure was followed. “We have been made aware of the citizens’ protest over the felling and have stopped it for now. We are also in talks with the forest department to get land from them for transplantation on an empty plot in Undri. Once we show the residents that site, we will be able to continue the work. This will be an important road, especially for diversions once Metro work starts in the area,” he added. Download the TOI App.