More than 1,500 trees will be felled across the city to make way for key infrastructure projects. The Maharashtra State Tree Authority (MSTA) took a decision in this regard at its second ever meeting on May 26.
As per the initial proposals placed before the authority, the projects comprise the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s Sewri-Worli Connector (305 trees to be cut), construction of Metro line 2 from Kalanagar to Bandra-Kurla Complex (344 trees), construction of a Metro viaduct from DN Nagar to Nanavati Hospital (233 trees), and construction of a 400kv power transmission line between Kharghar and Vikhroli (709 trees).
Though the minutes of the meeting are not publicly available, Vaibhav Raje, an independent arborist and member of the MSTA, confirmed that these projects had been cleared by the authority.
“Approvals were given after exercising all due diligence and thoroughly scrutinising the proposals placed before the authority,” Raje, who attended the meeting, said.
Zoru Bhatena, a city-based environmentalist, pointed out that the Bombay high court had repeatedly said, “The tree authority is not an authority constituted for the destruction of trees. Its primary objective is to ensure plantation, preservation, and protection of the trees, and enhancement of the tree cover.”
“Sadly, it appears that the MSTA is not fulfilling any of these statutory duties,” Bhatena said.
The MSTA at its first meeting on January 17 had deferred 12 proposals – seven in Mumbai, three in Nagpur, one each in Talegaon and Aurangabad – on technical grounds.
“The tree authority has received several proposals, which are not in consonance with the amended provisions of the Tree Act, 1975. In order to ensure that each proposal is in accordance with the amended law, the following standard operating procedure [SOP] is proposed,” the minutes of the meeting had said.
The six-point SOP stipulates that all project proponents must provide the location of the proposed tree area on Google Maps for easy identification, and that a tree census be carried out in the affected land parcel to ascertain the number, species, and age of the trees slotted for being felled or transplanted. The applicants are also mandated to estimate the age of every single tree proposed to be cut or transplanted, in consultation with the forest department.
The MSTA had on January 17 also considered a proposal to cut or transplant over 4,930 trees in Nagpur’s Ajni Van for construction of an inter-modal station by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and another proposal to fell 4,368 “unsafe trees” at Balasaheb Thackeray Smruti Van in Aurangabad by the municipal corporation. These proposals were, however, not taken up in the second meeting.