06 July,2011 07:41 AM IST | | Vivek Sabnis
Citing snake menace, employees of civic body do away with 50 'small trees' near water supply department in Swargate
The civic body is flouting its own rules. About 50 small trees were given the axe by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) workers of the water supply department in Swargate. "The civic body is flouting its own rules which states that no one should be allowed to cut trees and permission should be taken if it's imperative to do away with them," said Vaibhav Gandhi, an environmentalist.
Decapitated: The stumps of two of the trees that were cut down by
PMC employees outside the civic body's water supply centre in Swargate.
Pic/Vivek sabnis
Gandhi said old pictures of the place outside the water supply centre proved that once there were lots of small trees on the spot.The Swaragate water supply centre has not been functional for the last 10 years and is being used as a storage place for the water department.
MiD DAY found out that water supply pipes and other materials were lying unattended on the premises. The place has been neglected and badly maintained by the PMC.Small trees of neem, subabul and mango were found chopped near the pipelines.
"Trees of about 6-feet height were cut. The Bombay High Court has asked the PMC to get permission from the court before cutting down trees. Then why did it flout the order? We are taking up this issue with the Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak, who is chairman of the PMC's Tree Authority," said Gandhi.
Nitin Chheda, another tree lover said: "This is a serious crime because the employees themselves have cut the trees. The civic body should file a case of criminal offence against the people from the water supply department. In fact, PMC should convey this to the high court, or else we will have to inform this to the court."
The Other Side
Nitin Jagtap, executive engineer, water supply department, PMC, refuted the charges. "These were not big trees, but moderately-sized saplings that were creating problems in the area. My workers in the department were saying that poisonous snakes and vipers had started breeding among the foliage. We cut the grass and the small trees for the safety of these people. We have to trim the grass and small thickets every time to make the place clean and safe. The trees were small with a 2-inch diameter width and therefore, cutting them was not a violation," he said.
