We had very little time to hand over our objections because as usual the docket was published on the 10th in the ‘Saamna’ newspaper and we received the docket from the Garden dept on the 12th with only 3 or 4 days in hand to make objections. We therefore invoked the law under Maharshtra Tree Act section 8, sub section 3 whereby the Act states that it is mandatory that the Tree Authority to paste a public notice on a conspicuous part of the trees up for felling. Using this we  put a blanket objection to all the applications of the docket.

One reason that there was comparatively less participation by members was that we were unable to spread the docket far and wide amongst members given the lack of time and manpower to do so.

Though simultaneously some members continued to do site visits to the areas they represented.

On the 18th of Jan, Pune Tree Watch members were called by the Pune Tree Authority for a hearing. Since the current composition of the Pune Tree Authority is mostly of politicians, we were not much welcomed. Please see below a short summary of the entire meeting extracted from Samir Dhume’s  report to the group. -

In attendance from our side were Mr Vinod Jain, Mr Juneja, Tasneem, Anchal Sondhi, Sujatha, Somesh, Samir.

• In the beginning, the chairman, Addtl Commissioner Mr Jagade noted that there had been objections to the docket. He enquired whether we had objected to the whole agenda of the meeting. Mr Jain said yes, since the law required that every application for cutting a tree must have a notice put up on the tree and this had not been followed.
• Most of the members of the Pune Tree Authority refused to accept the objection. At this, the tree act was shown to the chairman and other members of the tree committee, who were unaware of this fact and then they were a bit silenced. But not before there was much raving and ranting on the same. Thanks to PTA members Vandana Chavan and Mr Hasmukh Shah who supported us.
• Some members of the tree committee objected to our presence, saying that only two representatives of the organizations should be present. After some arguments, the chairman ruled that the people present should continue to attend the meeting, but in future only two representatives and people who file objections should attend. Mr Jain's question brought forth the clarification that if a person making an objection cannot make it, he/she may authorize another person (presumably in writing) to speak on their behalf.
• Tasneem mentioned that on all trees on public land, a notice has to be put up and on private land, the owner of the land must put up a notice. Mr Khaire said that it is not feasible to put notices on every tree, considering his staff strength. There were a lot of arguments back and forth. The Chairman proposed/agreed that no application from private citizen be admitted unless and until the notice was put up. It was suggested that oil paint be put up on every tree that is proposed to be cut. It was thereby agreed upon to paint the trees. It has been now decided the when a tree has ‘T’ on it, it means Transplanting and  ‘C’ means Cutting.
• Somesh suggested that the docket be made available through the PMC web-site to save time. This was accepted by Chairman. They have agreed to publish the docket on  http://www.egovpmc.com/, the official P.M.C website as soon as it is relesased in the papers so that more people can access it without having to run around too much.

• Mr Jain gave specific numbers in the docket to which we had objections. Two additional days were given to file objections to  these (until 5 pm, 20th Jan). The objections must be specific and the forest department must follow up on every objection. The affected private citizens who have applied for the same must be informed about the delay if their application is close to running to the deadline of the response (2 months from the date of application).
• Somesh requested that information about proposed transplants or new plants to compensate for cut trees be made available. This was supported by Mrs Vandana Chavan but not accepted by the members of the Tree Authority.
• Last month's decisions will be made available to us in two days.