PMC has Rs 4.5 cr collected over 10 yrs from people who deposited Rs 10K per tree felled ufffd to be claimed after planting a replacement. That means 4,500 trees that should have been planted may never have been
PMC has Rs 4.5 cr collected over 10 yrs from people who deposited Rs 10K per tree felled ufffd to be claimed after planting a replacement. That means 4,500 trees that should have been planted may never have been
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The Garden Department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has Rs 4.5 crore in deposit money collected over the last 10 years. A deposit is collected from a person who is given permission to cut a tree and is returned when he is done planting a replacement.
An RTI application filed by activist Vinod Jain reveals that from January 2003 to April 2008 the PMC collected Rs 3.19 crore in deposit money.
The PMC garden department collects a deposit of Rs 10,000 for every tree cut.
"Since the PMC has collected Rs 4.5 crore, it means that 4,500 trees are yet to be planted. It is either that, or the PMC has not returned the money to the people concerned. It is mandatory for the PMC to return the deposit after two years," he said. "We are not opposing the development of the city, but trees should be planted in case some are cut for any purpose."
According to Hrishikesh Talwalkar, an environmentalist, 350 trees were chopped for the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) route between Katraj and Hadapsar but not a single one planted to compensate for the loss of green cover.
"The PMC had planted some bushes, but that does not make up for the loss of trees. The Garden Department should have charged Rs 35 lakh in deposit from the implementers of the BRT project for cutting 350 trees,"
he said.
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