PUNE: A notice of cutting down of 37 trees at Bund Garden put up by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is giving sleepless nights to Rifka Bose, a resident of Hermes Park society located near it. Despite several efforts by her to reach the MahaMetro and Tree Authority, her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Bose told Sakal Times that she had been on an official tour for a month and when she came back she saw that the garden had a fence of tin sheets and a huge bulldozer was digging it up. “When I visited the garden, I saw a notice was put up on a tree in the corner of the garden. The notice was not clear as it had red tape stuck on it, but it said 37 trees will be cut for Metro construction,” she said.
Bose added, “I got worried as I do not want the greenery to vanish from the city. So I contacted city-based environment activists to guide me. They gave me contact numbers from the Tree Authority and MahaMetro. I contacted them, but they did not receive my phone calls or call back.”
When Sakal Times contacted MahaMetro Executive Director Ramnath Subramaniam, he said, “We are into green Metro construction, therefore we are not axing or killing any trees, but we are transplanting trees by following all norms of transplantation. The notice at Bund Garden was not about cutting or killing any tree but of transplantation. Till now we have transplanted over 8,400 trees at Taljai tekdi and have planted over 650 saplings.”
Bose added, “I am not against the construction of Metro, but I want the trees to survive at their original location. During the transplanting process, most of the trees die and this will lead to loss of biodiversity. I will visit the ward office to get clear details about the issue.”
