Contractors uproot plants, environmentalists cry foul

PUNE : On Saturday, tree-loving residents of Baner were shocked to find nearly two dozen umbar, jamun and gulmohar plants uprooted along the banks of Devnadi.
The young plants were yanked off by contract labourers deployed by the Pune Municipal Corporation to lay a drainage line adjacent to Devnadi river, now reduced to a nullah.
Locals and green activists immediately swung into action.They have sent an email to municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar (who is also the chairman of the Tree Authority) alleging violation of the Tree Act, 1975, and disregard of a 2012 Bombay High Court judgement (case 41/2011) that had ordered removal of all drainage lines along Devnadi.
Ambadas Choudhari, a resident of Kumar Pinakin situated close to Devnadi, said, “A team of 15-odd residents have been coming here regularly to water the plants. I got suspicious on Friday when I saw the contractors at the site. At that time they had assured that they would replant if a tree is uprooted. I am shocked at the treatment of these plants.”
The action also points to the lack of coordination between departments, pointed out Swapna Narayan, convener of the Area Sabha Association. “When a common citizen cuts or trims a tree, a hefty fine levied. In this case, it’s the authorities themselves who are violating rules. An FIR should be filed against the wrongdoers and also strict action taken against officials concerned,” she said.
R. T. Kamble, garden inspector assigned to the area, meanwhile, assured that efforts were on to save plants. “Saturday was a holiday in the Pune Municipal Corporation, so I have told the contractor to stop work. I have also told him to replant what can be saved, and also get additional saplings to compensate the damage,” he said.
Jagdish Khanore, superintending engineer of the drainage department, assured that all corrective action would be taken.
“We will take action against this contractor whose men may have done this unknowingly. However, real damage has been done to only five or six plants, so we will restore them. We are actually laying drainage lines deep into the ground to comply with the high court order to ensure that sewage does not flow into the river, but straight to the STP plant in Baner. We are not violating any court orders,” the superintending engineer clarified.