THE HITAVADA IMPACT  

 

 

 

Taking swift action against damaging and uprooting of 1,400 compensatory saplings at Futala Lake’s catchment area, the Garden Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), conducted an inspection of the spot on Wednesday. ‘The Hitavada’, on Wednesday, published a report with photographs titled ‘1,400 Saplings Found Damaged At Compensatory Plantation Site Meant To Offset Felling of 36 Trees’, which clearly mentioned and displayed the uprooted saplings and damaged tree guards at the site.

 

These saplings were planted by Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC) against felling of 36 full-grown trees for construction of the new District Collectorate and Divisional Commissionerate building in Civil Lines area. As per the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, every project proponent should do compensatory plantation against felling of trees for a project. The project proponent should also maintain the saplings for the next seven years. Whereas, in this case, MSIDC planted 1,500 saplings in the catchment area during monsoon, but it was damaged recently.

 

“We inspected the site on Wednesday and found that many saplings were damaged. We are counting the number of saplings damaged at the site and thereafter, we will issue show cause notice to MSIDC for the damage,” said Ganesh Rathod, Deputy Municipal Commissioner to ‘The Hitavada’. The MSIDC reportedly spent lakhs of rupees on the plantation drive. Each sapling had been provided with a tree guard, but many of these guards were found bent. A senior MSIDC official said that, damage was allegedly caused by local residents or animals entering the plantation areas. The official also informed ‘The Hitavada’ that, MSIDC is planning to install more saplings at the same site soon. Whereas, the Garden Department is in a mood to raise the issue in the upcoming Tree Committee meeting. “After getting the reply of show cause notice, we are going to raise the matter in the Tree Committee meeting where the Municipal Commissioner will decide the further step on this issue,” said Rathod.