Journalism of Courage
A division bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday suggested that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) could take the help of students as they embark on a project to cut and replant trees along the Mumbai-Bangalore highway that is set to be widened to six lanes.
A division bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice A A Sayed noted that the students of schools and colleges would be on summer vacation at present. Instead of playing games on the computer,the students can plant trees, said Justice Chandrachud.
The courts suggestion came in response to an application filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seeking permission to cut 1,307 trees along the highway within the PMC limits.
During the hearing,counsel for PMC Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that it was planning to allot the work of cutting and replanting of the trees to an independent agency.
During the previous hearing,the court had asked the NHAI,the PMC and the forest department to arrive at a consensus on the issue. The NHAI had approached the High Court seeking permission to cut the trees as a May 2009 order of the court bans cutting of trees in the jurisdiction of the PMC.
The trees have to be cut as the highway is to be widened from four lanes to six lanes.
