NMC plans to cut 51 trees for road widening ahead of Kumbh Mela, invites suggestions or objections till Feb 18

Nashik: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has proposed cutting 51 trees along a 3km stretch of the outer ring road — from Papaya Nursery on Trimbak Road to XLO Point — as part of a major road-widening project planned ahead of the 2027 Simhastha Kumbh Mela. The project is aimed to ease the anticipated traffic surge and strengthen a key transport corridor linking the Ambad and Satpur MIDC areas.Civic officials said the existing stretch played a vital role in industrial connectivity and was expected to see a significant rise in vehicular movement during the Kumbh period. "To improve the efficiency of the 9km route, we have planned white-topping and road surface strengthening. The 51 trees along the alignment obstruct the proposed widening work and therefore need to be removed," an official said.As part of the mandatory public consultation process, NMC has affixed notices to each of the trees identified for felling. Citizens have been invited to submit their objections or suggestions by Feb 18, after which NMC will conduct a hearing to review the feedback. This procedure is a standard requirement under the Tree Authority.The NMC officials said compensatory plantation would be carried out in accordance with regulatory norms. "The number of saplings required depends on the estimated age of the trees being removed. If the trees are around 10 years old on average, the corporation will be obliged to plant at least 500 saplings of indigenous species like neem, banyan and peepal across the city to compensate for the loss," another civic official said.The Rs 175-crore project has already been tendered, and a work order has been issued to the contractor. The work is expected to begin soon.Environmentalists and social activists staged a sit-in outside Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the NMC headquarters, to protest the proposed cutting of trees for various development projects across Nashik. They urged the civic body to consider alternative alignments and prioritise the protection of large, mature and native trees. They warned that extensive tree felling in the name of development could have lasting impacts on the city's green cover and microclimate.