All you need is 48-hours notice to cut down any tree in the city

The directive is to decide on treecutting proposals fast so that development projects donrsquot get delayed Representation picIts not a good time to be a tree especially if youre in the ring with development The state it seems wants to ensure the latters victory A directive to make procuring permissions for treecutting easier puts restrictions on site visits by a tree inspector and tree authority members Issued by the Urban Development Department this is for taking instant decisions on trees proposed to be cut for developmentThe new directive is the second major change within a year made in the Tree Act Representation picA circular issued on August 24 states that in view of ease of doing business to facilitate procuring permissions for felling trees fast its to be mandated that one inspector tree officer or local corporator wont inspect the same establishment two consecutive times The state has issued the directive under section 154 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act 1966 to all planning authoritiesThis is the second major change within a year in the Tree Act Earlier the powers for granting permission to cut up to 25 trees without taking approval of the Tree Authority rested with the civic chief or the planning authority headMove to avoid delayA senior civic official said Earlier after a proposal to cut certain trees was received a junior officer from the tree department of the local ward would go to inspect and prepare a report Then corporators or Tree Authority members insisted on multiple visits This led to a delay in commencing the projectNow as per the new directive an officer is supposed to carry out an inspection of a site once and give a yes or no within 48 hours The move came because Tree Authority members were sitting on several treecutting proposals and undertaking multiple site visits the official addedOn August 14 midday had reported about the states plan to give powers to agencies other than the Tree Authority for approving cutting of trees on their landGreens see redEnvironmental activists and experts are quite obviously fuming over the changes in the tree protection actStalin D of NGO Vanashakti said This is a move to benefit builders In most cases builders send treecutting proposals to planning authorities with false information When officials visit the site and prepare a report pointing out the wrong information builders ask for a chance to submit revised proposals with corrections Officials carry out another inspection and give permission accordingly But now as per the directive there wont be any second visit which will clearly benefit buildersIt is like deemed permission This loophole has been inserted specifically to get away with illegal tree cutting and to benefit vested interests he addedRTI activist Anil Galgali said This move will benefit developers and take a toll on trees because in the name of ease of doing business authorities wont listen to any objections and grant the permission It will lead to more trees being felled without any concrete reason as there will be no public interventionWhile slamming the directive calling it a move to benefit builders another citizen activist Jitendra Gupta however said the change could have a positiveIt could provide some relief to citizens who repeatedly complain to the civic body about dead and dangerous trees in their housing societies because in most such cases the latter tends to drag its feet he explained