467 trees to be cut in Prabhag 29 (Karvenagar- Erandwane) - residents up in arms! A plot of land at the end of the lane off Karishma Society road ( the lane with Siddharth Towers) is an urban mini forest withe 100s of trees, some of which are heritage trees. An old well from the Peshwa era is also found here. Apparently, a DP road is planned through this forest - on one side a HUGE mall by Gravity Constructions is coming up. On the other side 2 acres has been reserved in the DP for a 'vruddhashram' - this too is a mini forest, with 100s of trees. On 17th September residents heard the sound of trees being sawed, and by the time they went to the site, already 40 - 50 trees were cut, including two trees that are more than 50 years old. They were told that PMC Road dept was cutting trees to build the DP road. However, further questioning, meetings with the ward officer Mrs Tambe and examination of the tree docket, raised many red flags. A few residents wrote to the Ministry of Environment directly and quite surprisingly an immediate email was send by the Minister to PMC and the collector to stop the cutting till all proper permissions were granted. However the cutting went on secretly even after that, continuing well into the night which is illegal, till angry residents stopped the work. Unfortunately another 20 or 30 trees were cut by then A meeting was held with all 4 local nagarsevaks and two meetings were held on site with MLA Dr Medhatai Kulkarni. The questions raised by citizens are 1. The docket shows that the tree cutting permissions were given in 2023, after which there were repeated extensions. This is illegal. Under the MH Tree Act, the validity of permission for tree cutting is 3 months, which in this case expired long back. Such extensions are not legal - new permissions have to be granted after a new hearing (incidentally there were no public hearings in 2023 either) 2. The plot with the mini forest was suddenly barricaded before the cutting - and the barricades do not belong to PMC, which certainly can't afford such swanky barricades. Who barricaded this forest? And why are security guards from the neighboring under-construction mall sitting here guarding the space? It is a public space after all. 3. The 200 odd trees in the reserved amenity space for 'vruddhashram' have also been marked and numbered - but neither the PMC, nor the nagarsevaks can explain why they're numbered or who has done it, even though this too is public land. 4. The trees in this forest are of good native species like Chandan, Kala Shirish, Pandhra Shirish, Putravati and others - some had nests on them when they were cut (which is illegal under the Tree Act). What has PMC done with the wood? Chandan wood for eg is very valuable 5. Why did the tree cutting go on even after the MoE ordered a stay? Why did it go on after 6 pm, which is illegal. Floodlights have been attached to a large tree as proof that tree cutting went on at night. Why this secrecy and urgency. Again, neither PMC nor the nagarsevaks nor the ward officer have any answers As far as I know, there doesn't seem to be any real purpose for this DP road - all surrounding areas are already connected by broad roads and there is no heavy traffic in this residential area to warrant a connecting road. The only purpose for this road that one can guess, is that it will provide a back access to the Gravity Construction mall. The vrudhashram plot also needs some investigations - will the trees here be cut too? Where are the permissions? PMC certainly isn't building an old age home here - so who exactly has this public plot been given / sold to and what will come up here? This is a beautiful urban mini forest with precious native species trees - instead of destroying it for some useless access road, both this and the vruddhashram amenity space should be converted into a biodiversity park with walking tracks. @Medha_kulkarni @mohol_murlidhar @ChDadaPatil