Nagpur: As per the bill passed recently in Maharashtra State Assembly, the local tree committee can take the decision on the fate of trees in its jurisdiction without referring matters to the State Tree Authority. The bill, which was passed on last Friday, empowers local tree committees to allow felling of all types of trees. The bill is an amendment of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975. The bill is yet to be passed by the Legislative Council.
Under the existing law, the applications for cutting down more than two hundred trees, which are five years or old, and also heritage trees, are referred by the local (Municipal) tree committee to the Maharashtra State Tree Authority (MSTA).
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After this amendment, the local tree authorities can now grant permission on their own, in all cases.
While introducing the bill, the Government said that facilitating the ease of doing business is one of the best ways to promote development and attract investors. During the debate on the bill, BJP MLAs, Ashish Shelar, Atul Bhatkhalkar and Ameet Satam slammed Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA and former Environment Minister, Aaditya Thackaray for enacting the previous amendment to the Act and forming the State Tree Authority. They also accused the Shiv Sena (UBT) of opposing all development projects. Thackeray pointed out that the State Tree Authority’s mandate was to identify heritage trees and ascertain if there was a need to cut them, to what extent trees should be felled, and how much compensation should be paid. “There can be ease of doing business only if there is ease of living,” Thackeray said. There should be a balance between development and environmental protection, he added.
To analyse the bill passed in assembly, Nagpur Today discussed with Green Vigil Foundation, a well known NGO working for environment protection and sustainable development since last 13 years and is very active against illegal tree felling.
Kaustav Chatterjee, Founder, Green Vigil Foundation and Ex. Tree Committee Member of NMC explained, there were some very positive amendments made by previous government in Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975. The main objective of the said amendments was to safeguard the green cover of Maharashtra. However, the recent bill passed in assembly, has decentralized the power for granting permission to achieve speedy decision making. In a sense, the decision is good, as respective local committees can meet more frequently as compared to state level committee and take fast decisions. Further, it is not possible for state level committee to conduct site visits, hence, majority of the decisions were taken based on paper works and reports, whereas, local committee can visit site and get the clear picture of ground reality, which is needed for apt decision making. It has been observed, in recent past, most of the objections taken by city environmental activists were not paid desired importance by state level committee, however, local pressure groups can create pressure on local committee for more accurate decision making and reviews, if required. However, the local tree committee should be given a free hand and should be allowed to work without any internal or external pressure, he added.
Surbhi Jaiswal, Team Lead, Green Vigil Foundation added local tree committee can closely monitor the conditions against which permission have been granted and if required, can take necessary action, which was not possible for state level committee, sitting at 1000 mile away. She also highlighted, majority of the application for tree felling in last 6 months, have been approved by State Level Committee with common riders, thus, it does not matter whether it is a state level or local committee but what matter is, the priorities for the committee members and their commitment towards saving the green lungs of our city.
