E-Paper
Panel to review tree cutting plan for Sadhu Vaswani overbridge
Maharashtra Tree Authority has formed eight-member committee to review the proposed tree-cutting plan for the construction of Sadhu Vaswani Railway overbridge in Bundgarden area
PUNE: Maharashtra Tree Authority has formed an eight-member committee to review the proposed tree-cutting for the construction of the Sadhu Vaswani Railway overbridge in the Bundgarden area. The move was followed after directives from the National Green Tribunal to form a panel consisting of experts. The committee is likely to visit the site on August 14.
On May 31, citizens from Pune city through advocates Maitreya Ghorpade, Manasi Thakare and Sonia Sharon applied to NGT to review the tree-cutting for the Sadhu Vaswani Railway overbridge in the Bundgarden area. As per the application, at least 96 trees including 19 heritage trees will be chopped off for the construction of the railway overbridge.
The Western bench of NGT consisting of Sheo Kumar Singh, a judicial member and Vijay Kulkarni, an expert member held a hearing in this regard on July 23. In this hearing, the bench ordered the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to submit its response within four weeks and also directed the Maharashtra State Tree Authority to convene a meeting of all concerned departments and conduct a site visit along with the applicants and submit a report to the tribunal.
Accordingly, a meeting in this regard was held in Mumbai by the principal secretary on August 12. In this meeting, a committee was constituted comprising eight members including the director environment department, the scientific officer, the project director of Majhi Vasundhara Abhiyan and members from the PMC. The committee will visit the site on August 14 along with the applicants. The committee expected to submit their report by August 19, following which the NGT hearing on this case will be held on October 1.
Ashok Ghorpade, head of the Garden Department, PMC, who is also a member of this said, “The committee was constituted by the State Environment and Climate Change department as per the guidelines given by NGT. The committee will visit the site and inspect it thoroughly. The report will be submitted accordingly.”
