To improve the forest cover and conserve heritage trees in Maharashtra, the State Government, on Monday, finally constituted the Maharashtra State Tree Authority exactly seven months after amending the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975. In the notification, government declared about the formation of the State Tree Authority and appointed a Chairman and three members. The recent amendment has classified 50-year-old trees as heritage and the permission of the felling of more than 200 trees will be provided by the State Tree Authority. The amendment has proposed to make it mandatory to plant trees equivalent to the age of the tree in case felling of trees is allowed for development project. The planted trees need to be 6-8 feet in height and the survival of such trees should be ensured by geo-tagging.

 

The notification named the Secretary of Environment and Climate Change as the ex-officio chairman of the State Tree Authority. Whereas, the secretaries of the urban development and forest departments have been appointed as ex-officio members. The director of Environment and Climate Change will be the ex-officio member-secretary of the authority. As per the notification, State Tree Authority will appoint maximum of three tree experts to provide technical advice to carry out the duties of the said Authority and can call the meeting of these tree experts as per the requirement. The ex-officio member-secretary and tree experts shall not have right to vote in the meetings of the authority. Vaibhav H Raje has been nominated to the authority as a tree expert for one year.

 

The state tree authority is also tasked with monitoring the functioning of local tree authorities, protection and conservation of heritage trees (trees with estimated age of 50 years or more) and felling of heritage trees. Welcoming the decision of the State Government, Suresh Chopane, Member, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) said, “Formation of state tree authority is a good step by the government. The Authority is tasked with monitoring the functioning of local tree committees and also work for protection and conservation of heritage trees available in the state.” “Now it is the responsibility of local institutions and activists to lodge complaints to the state tree authority when they notice any tree felling is underway for development project purpose,” said the MoEF&CC Member to The Hitavada. Chopane further added, “The Government must now think about proper utilisation of tree compensatory funds in protection and conservation of environment.” Similarly, Kaustav Chatterjee, Founder, Green Vigil Foundation said, “The amendment is a historic decision, but there are challenges in its proper implementation. For a common man, planting equal number of trees corresponding to the age of trees will not be possible due to space constraints.” Citizens do not even plant five saplings against cutting a single tree which is apparent from the fact that no one has gone back to NMC to claim back the deposited money against compensatory plantation, said Chatterjee.