The National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench comprising justice SP Wangdi, justice Ramkrishnan and expert Nagin Nanda, have sought a report from the tree authority committee and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) regarding the felling of 250 trees for road widening from Cummins College to Mahalaxmi Lawns at Karvenagar.
Besides this, the NGT has directed the PMC to “jointly inspect” the work in question, “verify on the factual aspects” and submit a report to it.
The order, which came on Thursday, further stated, “The tree authority shall be the nodal agency for co-ordination and providing logistic support. A report shall be filed to this tribunal through email at judicial-ngt@gov.in before the next date. The applicant shall furnish a set of papers, including a copy of this order to the aforesaid authorities in order to enable them to take requisite steps as directed within one week from hence. The applicant is permitted to file additional documents supported by an affidavit within a week.”
The tribunal has listed the next hearing on November 14. Advocate Saurabh Kulkarni who appeared for housing society Papillon Condominium, stated before the NGT bench that the applicant (Chairman of housing society) came across the notice dated July 4, 2019, which states that at least 250 trees will be felled for widening the road at the site. “Upon perusing the said notice the applicant immediately addressed a representation dated July 18 to the ward officer. The applicant vide the said representative brought to the notice of the ward officer that the said trees are in existence for more than 100 years and planted by Mr Karve who is a renowned social reformer in India in the field of women’s education and welfare. Karve started a girls school called Maharshi Karve Stri Shikshan Sanstha which is located in the same area. Out of the 250 trees that sought to be felled, 87 belonged to the institute,”the petition stated.
The applicant further submitted that the respondents do not seem to take any interest in saving trees. He submitted that there is no requirement of road widening as there are certain encroachments on the said road, which if removed, can help in regulation of traffic. The applicant also requested for the transplantation plan in respect of the trees, however, despite several requests, the respondents failed to hand it over after which he approached the NGT under provisions of Section 14 and 15 of the NGT Act 2010.
{{/usCountry}}The applicant further submitted that the respondents do not seem to take any interest in saving trees. He submitted that there is no requirement of road widening as there are certain encroachments on the said road, which if removed, can help in regulation of traffic. The applicant also requested for the transplantation plan in respect of the trees, however, despite several requests, the respondents failed to hand it over after which he approached the NGT under provisions of Section 14 and 15 of the NGT Act 2010.
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