Greens oppose tree hacking to develop Vashi civic garden

NAVI MUMBAI: The civic body’s attempt to develop an exotic garden in sector 10, Vashi has met with opposition. Nerul based RTI activist Anarjit Chauhan, in a letter to the chief secretary has alleged that NMMC is attempting to usurp wetlands by hacking trees and not following the due process of conducting public hearing against objections.
The activist plans to file criminal offence complaint against the civic chief under various IPC sections and Damage to Public Property 1984.“The civic chief is the chairman of the tree authority and is accountable for the decision to cut trees growing on land that is not even transferred to NMMC,”said the activist.
The civic body is stated to have issued a public notice of cutting 258 trees which came down to 90 after objections were raised. Deputy municipal commissioner (Garden) Tushar Pawar said that the land has been transferred from Cidco. “We have not received any mail yet and will respond accordingly,” he said.