Pune: The Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee (SC-CEC) has written to the Maharashtra chief secretary seeking directions to Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic bodies to halt all proposed tree felling in the riparian zones of Mula, Mutha, Mula-Mutha, Indrayani and Pavana water bodies for the riverfront development (RFD) work.The panel has sought such directions till the SC order of March 4 — regarding identification and demarcation of deemed forest areas by a state-appointed expert committee — is “implemented in toto” and a compliance affidavit submitted to the apex court.In his letter to the state chief secretary on Aug 21, SC-CEC chairman Siddhanta Das highlighted the need to protect the riparian forest areas of the aforementioned rivers flowing through Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad and proper survey and identification of deemed forest areas in Pune district.Das also told the chief secretary to issue interim orders to Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civics chiefs restraining them from causing any damage to or felling trees in the riparian areas of Mula and Mutha rivers till identification and demarcation process is completed. The restraint is “in particular for the RFD and the proposed tree-cutting application for 1,009 trees and transplantation of 2,252 trees for the project on the lands of Surya Hospital and Wakad to Kaspate vasti (crematorium) to Old Sangvi bridge via Ingawale ghat.”City-based NGO Jeevitnadi, along with Ecological Society, Nisargsevak and Devrai Foundation, had written to the SC-CEC on Aug 18. It said there was a plan to cut trees in the deemed forests located in and around the riparian zones of the Mula, Mutha, Mula-Mutha, Indrayani and Pavana rivers. The panel took note of the same while writing to the state chief secretary.Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) chief Naval Kishore Ram told TOI, “I will check if the chief secretary’s office has sent us any correspondence. I have been opposed to tree felling for the RFD project since the beginning and my stand remains. I have conveyed it to those working on the project.”TOI made repeated calls and sent messages to Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) chief Shekhar Singh for his comment, but there was no response till the time of going to press.On March 4, the Supreme Court had referred to the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, which came into force on Dec 1, 2023, while hearing several writ petitions raising concern over a likely reduction of forest coverage by way of use of the land, which in fact is a forest but not recorded as forest.Sub rule (1) of Rule 16 of the Rules of 2023 requires all state govts and Union Territory (UT) administrations to prepare within a year a consolidated record of such land (including forest-like areas identified by an expert committee constituted for the very purpose), unclassed forest lands or community forest lands on which the provisions of the Rules shall be applicable. The apex court was then informed that many states and UTs were still to constitute the expert committees to complete the exercise.The SC had then ordered that all states and UTs lacking experts committees must constitute it within one month from March 4. The committees were to complete the aforementioned exercise within six months from March 4 and submit a report to the Centre. “The six-month deadline ends on Sept 9,” Jeevitnadi founder Shailaja Deshpande told TOI on Thursday.“There is a vast area to be demarcated and mapped to complete the exercise as mandated by the SC order. PMC and PCMC have no experts on their teams for this purpose. The SC-CEC letter clearly said opinions of civil society must be reviewed, but no one has reached out to us to map or list such deemed areas. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that the demarcation exercise has not been carried out at all,” Deshpande added.
