Joshi to move Prabhu on Mahabaleshwar

MAHABALESHWAR, April 14: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi said today that he would invite the Union Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu to personally visit Mahabaleshwr and remove all obstacles in the local civic body’s efforts to beautify the hill station. Talking to newsmen after performing the bhoomipujan of a proposed cultural centre, Joshi said he would also explore the possibility of appointing a Special Officer at Mahabaleshwar to liaise with the government on all developmental programmes at the hill station.

While minor defaults if any could be sympathetically regularised, he said, no leniency would be shown to those responsible for indiscriminate tree felling on the plateau. In fact, accompanied by his cabinet colleague Sudhir Joshi and the MLA from the area Sadashiv Sapkal, he visited Rengdi village on Tapola road where large scale tree felling was noticed by officials last month on a plot of land recently bought over by Jilani Group of Panchgani.

He, however, pleaded ignorance when it was brought tohis notice at the press conference that in a similar case of indiscriminate tree felling on a plot of land on Mahabaleshwar outskirts belonging to his cabinet colleague Narayan Rane, the initially imposed fine of Rs. 97,000 was brought down by the the sub divisional officer of Wai straight to Rs. 9,700.