Koregaon Park tree felling meeting: PMC assures of not taking tree-cutting action without consulting citizens
Koregaon Park tree felling meeting: PMC assures of not taking tree-cutting action without consulting citizens
In the meeting regarding Koregaon Park tree felling between citizens & the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) at PMC Dhole Patil Road Ward Office on January 25, the PMC took down citizens’ suggestions & objections and have given assurance that citizens will be consulted before taking any kind of action or decision about tree-felling.
Speaking to Pune Pulse, Rohan Desai, a resident of Koregaon Park said, “The meeting was very good. Various points were discussed including a traffic-related plan, tree planting plan, alternate construction plan, and more. The PMC has assured of conducting a site visit along with the citizens where the PMC has assured of explaining everything in detail to citizens like traffic planning, tree cutting, etc. Hence, the meeting has been adjourned. It hasn’t ended yet.”
Manoj Phulpagar, a resident of Koregaon Park said, “The outcome of the meeting was positive. The PMC has assured that they won’t take any further tree-felling action as of now. The citizen response was very overwhelming. The PMC officials patiently listened to everyone present. About the Sadhu Vaswani Bridge construction, the PMC has assured that they will not take any action about tree-felling while constructing the bridge without consulting citizens.”
In the meeting, apart from tree felling, various other points were discussed such as Sadhu Vaswani bridge construction, traffic planning in various areas, and many more.
Neena Narsian, a resident of Koregaon Park said, “The meeting was good. However, the meeting has only been adjourned, not ended. Hence, during the next meeting, site visit, etc, the PMC is supposed to tell citizens about traffic diversification, the 81 trees that fell on North Main Road, why was tree replantation done in Hadapsar rather than in Koregaon Park, accountability, and more. Also, we spoke about having a tree every 100 m on the footpaths & several other issues. The PMC will tell us about traffic planning, where they have replanted trees, footpaths 100 m tree plantation, etc.”
Ameet Singh, a core member, Pune River Revival said, “In the meeting, the PMC has said that only 61 trees out of 161 trees at Sadhu Vaswani Bridge are going to be cut. 29 out of the 61 trees are not old which are on the median of the Bridge. We will try to save the rest of the 32 trees. Also, till there is no genuine assurance about this, we have asked for an adjournment of the meeting. If the adjournment is granted, it will mean that no trees will be felled till alternate options are explored. Let’s see what happens. The PMC has assured a site visit along with citizens at Sadhu Vaswani Bridge.”
PMC Dhole Patil Road Ward Officer Indrayani Karache, Horticulture Mistry PMC Tree Department Vilas Atole, PMC Junior Engineer Road Department Megha Lavand, PMC officials & nearly 100 citizens & activists were present during the meeting.
