1 week Ago By Alim Shaikh
1 2 Pune: A non-cognisable (NC) offence has been registered against a private contractor and an unidentified person in two instances of allegedly trimming and uprooting trees illegally along the Mula river at Pimple Nilakh. The incidents were both reported just a few metres away from the site where the civic body is carrying out works related to the river rejuvenation project. A senior Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation ( PCMC ) official confirmed that a joint case was registered on Monday by civic garden department officials at Sangvi police station.
Environmental activists had earlier reported the issue to the department, claiming that contractors awarded works for the river rejuvenation project felled and trimmed trees without permission from the tree authority. According to the panchnama (a record of observation conducted by the officials of PCMC's garden department) in the latest matter, 12 trees were found trimmed near the crematorium in Pimple Nilakh along the Mula river on March 8. The contractor carrying out river rejuvenation works was named as the accused in this matter.
Earlier this year, another such incident was reported at Panchsheelnagar also in Pimple Nilakh. At the time, at least 21 trees were found trimmed or uprooted during a panchnama by PCMC's garden department on Jan 14. The contractor had claimed the trees were cut before he initiated work at the project site; so, PCMC has named an unidentified person as the accused in this matter.
Green activists are up in arms, and claimed PCMC was hesitant to even register a case after both complaints. They told TOI that the civic body took over two months to submit a complaint to the police, and that too after activists repeatedly prodded officials. "The municipal corporation should have registered an FIR to send out a strong message.
An NC offence serves no purpose," pointed out Prashant Raul of the Green Army group. The Mula river rejuvenation project is being carried out jointly by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and PCMC along the river between Wakad Bypass and New Sangvi. Civic officials said the proposal to cut, transplant, or replant trees likely to be affected due to the project is yet to be approved by the tree authority committee.
"Till now, no trees are officially allowed to be felled for the project, and a decision in this regard will be taken only after the approval from the tree authority," a PCMC official confirmed to TOI. Responding to media reports about illegal cutting of trees near the project site, PCMC in a press statement on March 14 said it was verifying reports of trees that fell due to heavy winds or flooding, claiming that it had nothing to do with the river rejuvenation project..
