PUNE: Members of the tree committee and corporators have alleged that a misleading report submitted by the garden department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has led the Bombay High Court to sanction permission to at least 22 builders in the city to fell a large number of tress on their campuses.

BJP corporator Medha Kulkarni said that so far at least 1,100 trees have been cut down on various residential and commercial projects coming up in the city, thanks to the garden department’s hand in glove role with city builders.

In a letter written to the municipal commissioner soon after visiting a construction site on Survey No. 35 in Wadgaonsheri, Medha pointed out that none of the 107 trees that have been allowed to be felled by the PMC had served any purpose to the builder except providing him with extra space.

Interestingly, a huge number of applications filed by housing societies remain pending with the  PMC for years. The expert committee report, though probably in no way intentional, failed to notice that as many as 97 of the 107 trees did not in any way obstruct the proposed construction plan as submitted by the developer, Medha said.

“Moreover, the eleven plants which were to be transplanted according to the order passed by the High Court, have been transplanted in such close proximity to each other that the chances of their survival are virtually nil,” Medha said. The garden department has also come up with a novel explaination saying plants, which were in full bloom, have dried naturally and need to be cut down. “The plants are very much alive and in fact are blooming afresh, even after the builder uprooted them,” Medha said.

EXPERTS WERE MISLED TOO, SAYS MEDHA KULKARNI

Medha Kulkarni has said the expert committee, comprising botany professors, appointed to inspect spots before giving them permission for felling, can be easily misled into the ground situation by builders, developers and PMC officials. “I don’t blame them. They could be completely innocent, but their innocence is proving to be extremely damaging to the environment of the city,” Medha said, showing how the committee inadvertently ended up giving permission to fell over 1,100 trees in the city