City trees to get belated breather

Rules for implementing 30-year-old tree conservation act will be finally presented in the Assembly, but over a year late

Tree activists in the city now have a reason to rejoice. The State Town Development Department, in a reply to an application filed under the Right to Information Act, has agreed to formulate the rules of the Rules and Regulations for the implementation of The Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Preservation Of trees Act, 1975 and present them to both the houses of the Maharashtra State Assembly during this winter session.

This, despite the fact that the Bombay High Court had ordered the department to implement the act 18 months ago.

Late comers
The RTI application which drew the response was filed by city-based activist Vinod Jain on October 21. He had sought an explanation on why the High Court directive dated April 9, 2008, which ordered the department to formulate rules and regulations to implement the 1975 tree act within six months, had not been followed.

The HC order was passed following the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) application filed by another city-based tree activist Ajay Vaishampayan.

Vinod Jain said, "Though it's been one and a half years since the order was passed, no rules and regulations were formulated. So I filed an application asking for an explaination. The department's response is a positive sign towards our common mission of stopping the rampant massacre of trees across the state."
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He added that before formulating and implementing the rules for the Act, the state government should seek suggestions from the public.