Over 2,800 trees to be axed for road

Mumbai: With around 2,800 trees slated to be removed for the 11km-long road project connecting Airoli to Thane district, the Thane Municipal Corporation has not published any details about public hearing for the same in its public notice.

Green activists have highlighted that there are no proper details about the locations of trees, to verify the claims by the TMC that the trees are coming in the way of the work.

On Feb 1, a notice for cutting 2,874 trees was published by the civic body in a newspaper, stating that the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited had proposed removal of trees for construction of a road by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

“There are no details about the number of trees at a particular site, their positioning and the reasoning behind cutting such a large number of trees. Moreover, the TMC has not put up the notice on its official website as per the Bombay high court’s directions,” said Rohit Joshi, a Thane-based activist.

However, the activists have been trying to create awareness about the proposal among the public, following which, around 400 objections have been sent to the proposal.

The public notice also failed to describe the number of trees that were going to be transplanted for the same. Objecting to the notice, former member of the Thane Tree Authority and founder of the Foundation for Educational Rendezvous with Nature (FERN), Seema Hardikar, has also written to the TMC to prevent the haphazard cutting of trees.

“It is a huge number of trees and will make a huge impact on the surrounding environment. This requires a serious study and it is the duty of the tree authority and TMC to collect more data for the project and the trees that might get affected,” she wrote.

Ms Hardikar also stated that there had been no public notice for tree-cutting affixed on the trees in the areas of the project, which was required under the Trees Act, 1975.