Pune activists lodge FIR over illegal felling of tree during construction work by PWD

The FIR was lodged following a hearing with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Public Works Department’s (PWD) Tree Department. Pune Samvad was objecting to a request from the PWD to cut down 74 trees on PWD land near Airport Road. After the hearing, the PWD representative accompanied the citizens to the site, where they found out that construction had commenced without formal permission from the PMC. Hence an FIR was lodged over the illegal felling.

Talking to The Indian Express, Rekha Joshi, an environmentalist and member of Pune Samvad, stated, “This issue has been persisting since February. We identified this when a tender was put up by the PWD in the newspaper. We objected to the tree felling as it is our duty as citizens.”

In the docket of the building plan shared by the PWD, the tally of the number of trees conserved is significantly lesser than the 74 they have requested to cut. Since then, the group has been in a discussion with the PWD and PMC.

On May 27, during the site visit mandated at the hearing, they found out that construction for the buildings had already begun. “When we arrived on the land with the officers, we saw that construction had already started for an estimated one-and-a-half months.

The officers who came with us were themselves surprised and unaware of this,” Joshi said. She noted that several trees had been uprooted and significant root damage had been done to the other trees nearby, likely causing them to die.

Ameet Singh, an economist and a member of the group, said, “In order to legally cut down trees, the PMC has to issue a notice 8 to 15 days prior to the felling. This was not followed in this case as the PMC staff was unaware that construction had begun without their permission.”

Singh also told The Indian Express that it is mandatory for organizations like the PWD to have an alternative construction plan ready. However, the PWD did not have an alternative plan when the group requested one that would allow the greenscape of the area to co-exist with the construction.

The plan currently has a construction area estimated to be 18,000 square metres as disclosed by the Tree Authority Department in Vadgaon Sheri. The original request from the PWD was to cut down 72 out of the 94 trees in the area.

Despite lodging an FIR after the site visit, the concerned citizens are not confident in the police’s response, as Singh said the police were hesitant to take the case, citing jurisdictional issues. The Pune Samvad group is yet to meet police officials to discuss the case further.