Pune’s Maha Metro Pimpri-Nigdi Route: Tree Removal Trouble
Pune Metro Announces Extended Services: Special 24-Hour Operation on Anant Chaturdashi
2 August 2024
Environmentalists have shown their discontent and protested the cutting down of trees along the footpath from Nigdi to Pimpri. A complaint has been filed with the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) regarding this issue. The trees earmarked for removal include 18 Tabebuia, 18 Peltophorum, 9 Cassia fistula, 1 Neem, 1 Banyan, 2 Ashoka, 5 Sacred fig trees, and others. Among these, fifty trees are owned by PCMC, and seven belong to the Shree Krishna Mandir Trust. The PCMC has granted approval for the removal of these trees that are blocking the metro path.
As PCMC is busy planting trees, Maha Metro is busy chopping them down. The metro line contractor is not the one directly cutting the trees; it’s a subcontractor they’ve hired. Social activist Avinash Waghmare is calling for legal action to be taken against the contractors involved.
Dr. Hemant Sonawane, the director of Maha Metro, mentioned that for every tree cut down, ten new trees will be planted, and the existing trees will be replanted. Maha Metro had requested permission from PCMC to remove the obstructing trees, which was granted. The replanting of existing trees and the planting of ten new trees for each one removed will occur at the sewage treatment plant in Kasarwadi. Ravikiran Ghodke, the Deputy Commissioner of the Garden Department, specified that these trees need to be maintained for a period of three years.
