Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) are currently in the process of planting over 2.1 lakh saplings for the upcoming C20 summit, despite it being considered an unsuitable season for plantation, according to report published in Times of India.
This has caused concern among various groups, including the NGO Leader’s Club, who have met with NMC officials to oppose the harm being caused to the trees. If NMC fails to act, citizens have threatened to remove nails from the trees, and the garden department has directed the solid waste management department to recover fines and register FIRs. The minority cell of the Congress and the Nagpur Citizens Forum have also submitted memorandums and demanded FIRs against officials concerned.
According to the civic body data, the NMC usually plants around 20,000 saplings across the city every year. However, for the C20 summit, it is planting 10 times that amount, approximately 2 lakh saplings, from the Airport’s exit to Airport T-point to RBI Square. The NMC is also planting saplings on Wardha Road and around a five-star hotel near Jamtha, even though the city limits end at Khapri. The C20 summit is reportedly being held for three days at a hotel near Narendra Nagar flyover, where the state’s PWD is planting around 10,000 saplings.
However, according to sources from the NGO Leader’s Club and a retired officer from the NMC garden department, March is not an ideal month for planting, and the survival rate of saplings planted in this season will be very low, even with the utmost care. Moreover, NMC workers have been seen hitting nails into trees for installing lighting on VIP and Palm roads, and NMC is painting private property compound walls in front of and adjacent to the hotel where the C20 summit is scheduled. The NMC has also asphalted roads in areas with no houses and installed new street lights on the footpath and in front of the hotel, which has raised questions about the misuse of public
funds.
