The Times of India           19.03.2014

National Green Tribunal seeks municipal corporation's say on tree-cutting norms

PUNE: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday asked the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to file an affidavit confirming that it had complied with all the norms before cutting down trees for a road-widening project in the city.

"The tribunal has asked the PMC to file a compliance affidavit. We will ask the road department of the PMC to do so," said Mohan Dhere, tree officer of the PMC.

The NGT is hearing a petition that claims that the civic body has allowed illegal felling of trees and is in contempt of the ruling passed by the Bombay high court in September 2013 that specifies the procedure to be followed before trees are cut. It has particularly raised the case of felling of trees along a 3.5-km stretch of road between Ghorpadi and Mundhwa in December 2013.

However, the legal counsel for the PMC has claimed that permissions for cutting the 77 trees and transplant 70 others had already been obtained from the Bombay High Court. The civic body has also claimed that it has planted 200 trees to compensate for the loss of greenery.