7 months ago
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The occidental portion seat of the National Green Tribunal connected Friday gave a enactment to the cutting of trees astatine Tapovan successful Nashik till January 15, 2026, aft an applicant named Shriram Pingale claimed that the Nashik medication was reportedly cutting thousands of trees without due Environmental Impact Assessment, nether the sanction of ‘developmental requirements for Kumbh Mela 2027’. The NGT besides directed the enactment of a associated committee of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Nashik Divisional Forest Officer and Nashik Municipal Commissioner to hole a study successful the matter.
“The Committee is directed to sojourn the site, aft giving anterior announcement to the applicant and taxable its study wrong 2 weeks done e-filing successful the signifier of searchable PDF/OCR Support PDF and not successful the signifier of Image PDF. In the meantime, we nonstop that till the adjacent date, nary histrion would beryllium felled by the Authority acrophobic different than prescribed nether the law,” the NGT bid issued by Dinesh Kumar Singh and Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpayee stated.
Protests person erupted successful Nashik’s Tapovan area, opposing the connection to chopped trees successful a 34-acre crippled for the operation of Sadhugram and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) hub successful the portion done a ₹300 crore project. This task is associated with the Simhastha Kumbh Mela, which is to instrumentality spot successful Nashik adjacent year. The Corporation had sought suggestions and objections for the connection to wide implicit 1800 trees from the area. Several environmentalists, section citizens, artists, and governmental parties proceed to clasp protests astatine Tapovan to reason the government’s program to chop disconnected trees.
On Friday, the NGT gave an urgent proceeding to Shriram Pingale, who claimed successful his exertion that the section authorities had initiated a process for “mass felling/ transplantation of trees crossed assorted locations, specified arsenic main arterial roads, Godavari riverfront, attack roads to Trimbakeshwar, and different nationalist areas citing ‘developmental requirements for Kumbh Mela 2027’”.
“It is further mentioned that the projected enactment reportedly includes cutting of thousands of mature autochthonal trees, immoderate of which are decades old, without due Environmental Impact Assessment, without exploring viable alternatives, and successful blatant disregard of statutory requirements nether the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975,” the exertion had stated.
Environmentalists happy
Environmentalists successful Nashik expressed joyousness astatine the passing of the NGT order. “No histrion survey has been conducted by the authorities. Every year, budgetary allocation is made for it. The survey should beryllium conducted successful a technological manner. That has not happened too,” Devang Jani, an environmentalist from Nashik who has been warring for Godavari’s rejuvenation for implicit a decennary now, told The Hindu, adding that the corp volition not beryllium capable to chop disconnected a azygous histrion anymore.
‘No comments’
Nashik Municipal Commissioner Manisha Khatri refused to remark connected the order. When contacted, she told The Hindu, “I person not yet seen the order. I cannot accidental thing without seeing the order.”
