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27 fully grown trees cut down on MSRTC premises in Pune
Permission was given to trim branches, says Pune Municipal Corporation; serves notice
In a reckless act of hacking trees as many as 27 fully grown trees were axed by the workers on orders from Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) at their campus, at Seven Loves chowk, Shankarsheth road, on Wednesday. While the tree department says that permission was given only to trim the branches.
The incident came to light when Manoj Kshirsagar, a leader from Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, who is also a social worker saw the contractor and other workers cutting down the trees.
“I saw huge trees lying on the campus and during further investigation I found that workers and a contractor were busy hacking trees in the campus of the MSRTC near Seven Loves Chowk, Shankarsheth road,” said Manoj.
“When I called the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) tree department I was told that they had permission to trim the branches, but the permission that they showed them were back dated in October 2019. They have practically uprooted huge trees of mango, peepal, audumbar (cluster fig) among other trees,” said Manoj.
Devidas Bhujbal, horticulture supervisor, PMC, said, “It was unpleasant to see that so many trees were cut down. We had given permission to only trim the branches. The permission was given last year, but they had come for an extension and we had given them permission on February 18, 2020, for next three months.”
“The permission was given to trim the branches as they were causing hindrance for the buses,” said Bhujbal.
“We have taken strict action against them and have also served a notice under PMC Tree Act 1975, demanding a reply within eight days,” said Bhujbal.
When HT contacted Yamini Joshi, Pune divisional controller of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), she said, “I am on leave from the past ten days and I am unaware of the issue.”
