Maharashtra Assembly passes Bill empowering local authority to allow felling of all types of trees

The Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, has been enacted for the purpose of protection and preservation of trees in urban areas of the state, by regulating felling of trees and providing for planting of adequate number of new trees in those areas. Section 6A of the said Act provided for the duties of the Maharashtra State Tree Authority, while Section 8 provided for the restrictions on felling of trees. The applications regarding felling of more than 200 of five years or more old and regarding felling of heritage trees, shall be referred by the Tree Authority or Tree Officer to the Maharashtra State Tree Authority.

“With growing pace of urbanisation and industrialisation in the urban areas, ‘Ease of Doing Business’ is one of the best way to promote development and attract investors… The Central Government is also constantly promoting ‘Ease of Doing Business’ through granting permissions within the stipulated time frame in the various fields,” said the statement of objects and reasons of the bill. It added that it is necessary to empower the local tree authority to grant permission for felling of all types of trees without referring the applications to the Maharashtra State Tree Authority. “The Government, therefore, considers it expedient to amend sections 6A and 8 of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, suitably,” it said.

Earlier, the discussion on the bill lasted for over two hours which turned into allegations and counter-allegations between the MLAs of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) over the role of the tree authority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal corporation (BMC). BJP MLA Ashish Shelar alleged that Thackeray group’s opposition to the bill is to keep Mumbai backwards as it has always opposed developmental projects in the city. Thackeray group MLA Sunil Prabhu said that his party never opposed any developmental project but always stressed on inclusive discussion on every aspect.