After intervention of the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, the special committee constituted to monitor tree dechoking work in city has finally included the petitioner in the inspection of process initiated by different Government organisations. Initially, the High Court directed the committee to include the petitioner to maintain transparency in the process, but the committee members belonging to Government organisations were not in favour of including the petitioner.

 

 

 

Expert members showed interest to include Prachi Mahurkar, the petitioner and former member of the tree committee. In the recent meeting, Vijayalakshmi Bidari, Nagpur Divisional Commissioner and the chairperson of the committee decided to include Mahurkar in the inspection process. “I am glad that the committee considered to involve me in the dechoking process. The process has already been initiated by different Government organisations but the dechoking of trees on private lands should also be considered by the administration,” Prachi Mahurkar told The Hitavada. Different Government organisations started the process last month to dechoke 4,147 trees across the city.

 

Of the trees, most come under jurisdiction of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). As per the data shared by NMC, total 3,143 trees have been identified by NMC for dechoking. Till date, the civic body has already completed the process of 2,229 trees in all 10 zones. Along with this, NMC also installed curve stones around 725 trees in different parts of the city. As per the instruction of the court, a special committee was formed under the chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner to ensure compliance with national environmental guidelines. Apart from NMC’s 3,143 trees, 370 trees come under the National Highway Authority of India, 294 under the Public Works Department (PWD), 101 under PWD (World Bank Projects), 36 under State Highways, 11 under the Nagpur Improvement Trust, and 9 under Maha Metro. Green activists had earlier highlighted in the court that the bases of hundreds of roadside trees were blocked by cement and tar, restricting their natural growth.

 

As per Central Government guidelines, a minimum open space of 1.25×1.25 metres must be maintained around every tree. The committee also appointed two expert members for expert advise for implement the process. Bidari instructed all Government organisations to involve both experts in the process. As per the sources aware about the development, the dechoking process has initiated but the experts are hardly made involved in it. “In the recent meeting, the committee has decided to involve Prachi Mahurkar along with both experts Dilip Chinchmalatpure and Kaustav Chatterjee. All the three experts will check the process of dechoking after completion of the work,” said Ganesh Rathod, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Garden Department, NMC.