City-based environmentalist Stalin Dayanand has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, demanding that the penalty for the illegal felling of trees be increased from the present amount of Rs 1000, as well as the reintroduction of a proposed amendment to the Maharashtra Felling of Trees (Regulation) Act, 1964. A bill, which sought to increase the penalty for the illegal felling of trees from Rs 1000 to Rs 50,000, was withdrawn by the state government in December last year.

According to the environmentalist, the reason for writing the letter was to draw attention to the rampant destruction of forests and trees across Maharashtra. Stalin claimed that he had filed numerous complaints about deforestation in various parts of the state, adding, “We [Maharashtra] will never even attain a 22 per cent forest cover, let alone 33 per cent, if things continue this way.”