Below is the letter that some of the members wrote to the Commissioner of Pune. We have had no response so far.

To,
Dr Nitin Kareer,
Commissioner, Tree Authority,PMC,Pune.

Subject : Stop unnecessary cutting of trees.

Dear Sir,

In Pune, an average of 500 trees are being cut in the city. Over the last three years over 17,000 trees have been cut in Pune which is destroying the green cover and thereby harming the environment.

With your help, together we have saved 90 trees on Karve road itself, even when permission had been granted by the Garden Dept. and the Tree committee.

On the issue protecting trees a few of us (including members of Kalpavriksh, members of Pune Tree Watch, Mr Vinod Jain, Mr Jagjit Singh Juneja and Mr Vaz) attended the Tree Committee meeting on 12.12.05. This meeting was not chaired/attended by the concerned authorities, while serious decisions were to be taken. One of these decisions was to grant enough time to the public to raise objections to proposed tree felling.

 In many cases, sanction for the trees to be cut has been given for incorrect reasons. Hence, the reasons for some of the tree cutting are not truthful.           

The docket is published in different newspapers every month. It is difficult to keep track for citizens to check which newspaper has published the docket. We request you to put this docket up on the PMC website, publish only in leading newspapers and post a copy to Mr Vinod Jain (985, Sadashiv Peth, 11, Bhupati Complex, Pune 30).

 Regarding the attached docket (October 2005) and the objection letter dated 16.12.05 (# 13365) we require some time (10 days minimum) to inspect the concerned sites. We require building plans of some of the properties.

The Tree Authority has been appointed to visit ad inspect every site and protect/save as many trees as possible. But in many cases, visits are not made. The permission is granted in the meeting without a site visit.  This is also incorrect.

We will be happy to help you on these visits, especially to sites where a large number of trees  (e.g the above 5 trees) are to be cut.

 
We also request you to allow members of the public (10/15 persons) to attend your monthly Tree Authority meetings with sufficient notice.  This will make your decision-making transparent, and in tune democratic spirit. This is the practice in PCMC, why not in PMC?

Even the Forest officer (PCCF) Mr. Prakash Thosare has given us a letter stating his co-operation and help in preserving trees and biodiversity (see letter dated 2.12.05; govt letter # 4/vj/475/05-06)

          
We hope to receive your co-operation and action on the above issues.

1)      Shantha Bhushan

2)      Sujatha Padmanabhan

3)      Jain Vinod R

4)      C K Vaz

5)      Juneja Jagjit S

6)      Niranjan

7)      Ravindra Latey