In a hearing related to a contempt petition filed in the case of felling of trees on Ganeshkhind Road, the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court on December 13 asked the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to submit a fresh affidavit personally examined by the Municipal Commissioner.
The court said, “We direct that the affidavit to be filed under this order will be personally examined by the Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation and any omission or deficiency in compliance with the order passed by the court will be viewed seriously.”
This was in reference to the order passed by the court on April 17, 2024 allowing removal of trees on Ganeshkhind road to facilitate completion of flyover construction.
The original petitioners in the case – NGO Parisar – had filed a contempt petition alleging non-compliance of various directions passed by the court in its April order. These included transplanting trees instead of felling, compensatory planting of 5,000 trees by PMC with a survival rate of 95 per cent and roadside plantations with approval from botanists. The PMC was also asked to regularly make this information available on its website and keep the court informed about the progress.
Ranjit Gadgil, Program Director, Precinct, a petitioner said, “We filed an RTI asking about the implementation of these instructions and were shocked to learn that none of them have been followed. It seems pedestrians have been obstructed by haphazard plantation of trees on Ganeshkhind road. The department should have ensured that at least 2.5 meters of pedestrian space was planted along the footpath.45 meters on the road Even pedestrians are getting 1-1.5 meters of walking space, which is even less in some places.”
“There is no information available about the 5,000 trees to be planted as compensation and the website – which the PMC claims has this data – is not accessible. The trees should be geotagged, but this is not done,” said Amit Singh, another petitioner.
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