Activists work to save trees in city’s fringes

With some outer fringes of the city such as Undri, Phursungi and Manajri recently being brought into Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limit and Alandi into Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limit, several citizens and activists are concerned that the area’s green cover might have to bear the brunt of the fast-paced development that the region will now see. Anticipating the worst, the group is worried that many trees in the newly designated PMC ambit might have to face the axe to make way for construction work in the area. To stop the trees from being mowed down, city professionals are reaching out to the locals in a bid to educate them on how to protect the trees and help them identify safe spots to plant new trees.

To aid the cause, the group is making the most of the ongoing Ganpati festivities.


“We recently conducted an event at a Ganpati pandal, hoping to spread awareness among locals about the civic body’s Tree Act,” said Vivekom Gala, an IT professional, who is part of the initiative.

Gala said the event was aimed at preparing residents on how to act in case they get to know that trees would be chopped down. “Also, while many residents plan to plant trees, chances are that the trees will not survive if they happen to fall in the ambit where development work is supposed to take place,” he stated, adding that, therefore, safe spots need to be identified so that the saplings can thrive and grow.

About three residential societies and a couple of Ganpati mandals invited the professionals to hold their talks.

Sathya Natarajan, one such tree activist, has been working on simplifying the Tree Act for the masses. “People need to sit up and act before the damage is done. The objective of the drive is to spread that message far and wide and get citizens to spring into action. We want to follow the footsteps of the Ganpati festivals of yore and use it to spread social messages,” he added.

Unwilling to let go of any opportunity, the group is also reaching out to devotees at river ghats during idol immersions.

“Awareness is also being generated on how people can adopt trees and protect them at an individual level,” he added.

Youth ambassadors working towards achieving sustainable development goals have also joined hands to facilitate the cause.

“There is a need for an act to make a perfect provision for trees in any corner of the state. Regulating felling of trees and providing safe spaces for planting and nurturing new plants is something we seriously need to look into,” said Vivek Gurav of MY World 2030 Asia-Pacific Advocacy Programme for United Nations SDG Action Campaign.

The youngsters reached out to students at Alandi on Sunday for the purpose.

Talking about the issue of felling of trees, Gurav said that people often chop down trees unmindful of the grave consequences.

“Now that we have a proper channel, our volunteers will be alert and ready to deal with such situations through legal provisions of the Tree Act,” he added.

“Recently, students planted trees and pledged to nurture them until 2020. We aim to replicate that model,” said Dharam Pal Gaikwad, National Service Scheme (NSS) coordinator at MIT Academy of Engineering, (MITAOE, Alandi).

Gaikwad is hopeful that heightened awareness about the Tree Act will be helpful to the NSS team at MIT.

“While the major challenge is to nurture new plants, awareness about the Tree Act will make people better equipped for the same,” he added.