Nagpur: Taking suo moto cognisance of letter opposing civic body’s plan to fell 500 trees to pave way for temporary road from Bharat Nagar to Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran’s (MJP) office near Telangkhedi Hanuman Temple, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court considered it as PIL.
The letter was sent by environmental activist Jaydeep Das, appointed Kartik Shukul as amicus curiae in the case. The court has asked Das to draft a comprehensive petition.
Das’s letter was based on a news which highlighted MahaMetro and Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) plans to construct a temporary road. He also dispatched his letter to Union environment minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, mayor Nanda Jichkar, MahaMetro managing director Brijesh Mishra, PDKV vice-chancellor VM Bhale and DCP (traffic) Raj Tilak Roushan.
The decision to fell trees was being taken as the regular road would be closed for about a year for traffic to pave way for construction of an amphitheatre on Telangkhedi Lake.
Expressing anguish and frustration over the decision-making process of the authorities, which he termed as “naive”, the activist accused them of committing murder of 500 trees ignoring the fact that city’s green cover was already depleting. “They neither conducted any study nor came up with a feasibility report before arriving on the decision to construct the road by sacrificing trees,” he wrote in the letter.
Das, who was planning to file a PIL, claimed that the trees and the entire area were a habitat of various animals and bird species.
