Green brigade rush to save trees at pool; none chopped

A tipoff that the BMC was about to chop 113 trees had members of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Swimming Pool,Shivaji Park...

A tipoff that the BMC was about to chop 113 trees had members of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Swimming Pool,Shivaji Park,and the Tree Authority rushing to the pool early Friday morning. However,no one turned up to chop trees,said Sunita Godbole,member of the pool.

Residents of Shivaji Park will approach Deputy Municipal Commissioner V B Pawar and request him to preserve the trees. Pawar told The Indian Express,Not one tree has been touched or trimmed yet. However,we have received permission to cut trees to redevelop the pool.

Residents insist that cutting the trees would be illegal as a writ petition is pending in High Court. We got to know that today,the workers were planning to chop the trees. We therefore went to protect them.

In May,members of the pool had filed a writ petition against the BMC,which owns the plot,and the Union of India which had allegedly granted permission for redevelopment. The petitioners say that the swimming pool comes under CRZ-I and therefore reconstruction is not permissible.

Avinash Kubal,a member of Tree Authority who was present at the spot on Friday,said that the BMC officials have agreed not to cut trees till the HC judgment.

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