Civic body tightens rules for tree cutting
Manka Behl | TNN | Apr 17, 2019, 04:37 IST
Nagpur: In possibly a first for a civic body, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has made it obligatory to carry out compensatory plantations before felling trees. The newly formulated rule aims at ensuring that such plantations don’t remain stunted on paper.
According to the latest standard operating procedure (SOP) released on Tuesday, any individual or public and private organization will have to mandatorily plant saplings having minimum height 6 feet before seeking permission to chop trees.
For felling trees in residential premises, the compensatory plantation needs to be done in 1:5 ratio. However, to axe trees for commercial purpose, the applicant will have to plant ten new saplings against every tree proposed to be cut.
The civic body will help the citizens with availability of land for plantations. “If someone approaches us citing unavailability of land, a team of officials will first survey the area where trees are proposed to be felled. In case of no vacant space, we will provide them government-owned land,” said NMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar.
The issue of ineffective compensatory plantations was first raised by environment protection NGO Green Vigil Foundation which called attention to the city’s dwindling green cover. After a series of meeting with its members and NMC officials, the civic chief who also heads the tree committee decided to introduce stringent norms. The new rules are implementable with immediate effect.
Stating that the previous framework was “defeating the purpose”, Bangar said that compensatory afforestation was not being taken seriously. “Till now, most people would deposit the required money, cut the trees and not turn up to reclaim the money after planting saplings,” he said.
Even under the new guidelines, applicants will have to deposit money. “They can claim it back after maintaining the saplings for a stipulated time period,” said Kaustav Chatterjee, founder of Green Vigil.
Other first-time rules include “felling trees only when absolute necessary”. The SOP states that citizens can’t seek permission to fell trees citing insignificant reasons like “troubled by leaf litter” or “improving visibility of an advertisement hoarding or shop”.
Apart from this, the corporation is planning to develop a mobile application to track the compensatory plantations, the pictures and GPS location of which will be uploaded by the applicants. While applying for permission, citizens will now have to submit four coloured photographs of all the trees which need to be cut.
Even for trimming branches, they will have to submit similar pictures, highlighting the exact spot which needs to be pruned.
While environmentalists welcome the “bold move”, they have also raised concern over its enactment. “Ensuring prior afforestation will be very beneficial, if NMC is able to implement the new rules on ground with complete transparency,” said green activist Shrikant Deshpande.
Old rules
* Compensatory plantations done after seeking permission to fell trees
* Deposited money can be reclaimed after carrying out plantations
* Submitting photographs for felling or trimming not mandatory
NEW RULES
- Don’t cut trees unless necessary
- Compensatory plantations should be carried out prior to seeking permissions for felling trees
- Height of saplings should be at least 6 feet
- Plantations to be carried out in 1:5 ratio for residential and 1:10 for commercial
- Deposited money can be reclaimed after maintaining plantations for a given time period
- Along with an application, attach 4 coloured pictures from all angles of the trees proposed to be cut
- For trimming trees, submit pictures highlighting the area which needs to be trimmed
- If cutting trees for new construction or development work, submitting a plot plan is compulsory. The plan should highlight the location of existing trees and explain the type of obstacle that trees are causing
- Do not cut trees for insignificant reasons
According to the latest standard operating procedure (SOP) released on Tuesday, any individual or public and private organization will have to mandatorily plant saplings having minimum height 6 feet before seeking permission to chop trees.
For felling trees in residential premises, the compensatory plantation needs to be done in 1:5 ratio. However, to axe trees for commercial purpose, the applicant will have to plant ten new saplings against every tree proposed to be cut.
The civic body will help the citizens with availability of land for plantations. “If someone approaches us citing unavailability of land, a team of officials will first survey the area where trees are proposed to be felled. In case of no vacant space, we will provide them government-owned land,” said NMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar.
The issue of ineffective compensatory plantations was first raised by environment protection NGO Green Vigil Foundation which called attention to the city’s dwindling green cover. After a series of meeting with its members and NMC officials, the civic chief who also heads the tree committee decided to introduce stringent norms. The new rules are implementable with immediate effect.
Stating that the previous framework was “defeating the purpose”, Bangar said that compensatory afforestation was not being taken seriously. “Till now, most people would deposit the required money, cut the trees and not turn up to reclaim the money after planting saplings,” he said.
Even under the new guidelines, applicants will have to deposit money. “They can claim it back after maintaining the saplings for a stipulated time period,” said Kaustav Chatterjee, founder of Green Vigil.
Other first-time rules include “felling trees only when absolute necessary”. The SOP states that citizens can’t seek permission to fell trees citing insignificant reasons like “troubled by leaf litter” or “improving visibility of an advertisement hoarding or shop”.
Apart from this, the corporation is planning to develop a mobile application to track the compensatory plantations, the pictures and GPS location of which will be uploaded by the applicants. While applying for permission, citizens will now have to submit four coloured photographs of all the trees which need to be cut.
Even for trimming branches, they will have to submit similar pictures, highlighting the exact spot which needs to be pruned.
While environmentalists welcome the “bold move”, they have also raised concern over its enactment. “Ensuring prior afforestation will be very beneficial, if NMC is able to implement the new rules on ground with complete transparency,” said green activist Shrikant Deshpande.
Old rules
* Compensatory plantations done after seeking permission to fell trees
* Deposited money can be reclaimed after carrying out plantations
* Submitting photographs for felling or trimming not mandatory
NEW RULES
- Don’t cut trees unless necessary
- Compensatory plantations should be carried out prior to seeking permissions for felling trees
- Height of saplings should be at least 6 feet
- Plantations to be carried out in 1:5 ratio for residential and 1:10 for commercial
- Deposited money can be reclaimed after maintaining plantations for a given time period
- Along with an application, attach 4 coloured pictures from all angles of the trees proposed to be cut
- For trimming trees, submit pictures highlighting the area which needs to be trimmed
- If cutting trees for new construction or development work, submitting a plot plan is compulsory. The plan should highlight the location of existing trees and explain the type of obstacle that trees are causing
- Do not cut trees for insignificant reasons
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