New bill could make mass-cutting of trees easier

The state government of Mumbai has initiated a bill that would give local authorities the power to grant permission to cut down over 200 trees in the city. This move is seen as making it easier to fell trees for infrastructure projects, but critics argue it may lead to corruption and a lack of tree protection. The bill also includes a provision that the plot with the trees to be felled should not be divided into smaller parts to keep the number below 200.

Mumbai: The state government on Tuesday initiated a bill that will make the felling of trees in the city easier. The bill gives the power to grant permission to cut over 200 trees (of more than five years of age or ‘heritage’ ones) to the local civic body. This power has so far been with the state-level Tree Authority.

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With the bill, the government is proposing an amendment in the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of tree Act, 1975. The bill, initiated by chief minister Eknath Shinde, who is also the urban development minister, states that urbanisation and the policy of ease of doing business are the reasons for the amendment.

According to officials from the urban development department, this will pave way for the rampant felling of trees. “Though the amendment is to facilitate infrastructure projects, empowering the local authorities like municipal corporations may go against tree protection,” said an official. “Most of the time, local committees are more vulnerable to pressure from vested interests.”

The bill also mandates that the plot with the trees to be felled should not be subdivided into smaller parts in order to keep the number below 200.

Zoru Bathena, environmental activist, said the amendment was not in the interest of tree protection. “The act was amended in 2001, transferring the power to give permission for cutting over 200 trees from the local to the state-level authorities,” he said. “There are already complaints of corruption against the local authorities that give permission to fell the trees. Thus, power delegated to the local level will make it easier to cut trees.”

S S Shinde, former chief of the Tree Authority of Mumbai, said that the procedure to be followed for cutting trees was the same, whether it was before the local authority or the state authority. “Most proposals for felling more than 200 trees are by the government and that too for infrastructure projects like road construction,” he said.