This was the first Pune Tree Watch meeting. The meeting was held at Smrutivan, Kothrud. It was attended by Vivek Velankar, Vinod Jain, Nitin Chedda, Mukul Mahableshwarkar, Supriya Goturkar, Shubada and Shounak Patwardhan and Tasneem B. 

It started with an introduction to the group, and the possibilities of a future activity. Vinod jain and Vivek helped in getting a larger perspective on the issue. Moreso Vinod shared with the group information on the functioning of the Tree Authority. Similarly information was exchanged by other members who have had previous experience. These ranged from the Pune tree census (which happened last in 1996), to the Commissioner and the Maharashtra Tree Act.

Future Directions for now

* A letter to the commissioner listing out the weaknesses of the functioning within the Tree Authority. Tasneem will be putting together a rough draft, listing out the various points with substantial information that could be gained through the RTI, and circulating to the group for inputs.

* Apparently once every month decisions on the applications received for tree felling are finalised by the Tree Authority. Comments/recommendations on these application are put down on each application by the Garden Dept. after a site visit. A notice is published (once a month ?) in any paper stating very briefly the locations where permission for tree felling is asked for. What we could try is to get more details for each site and wherever possible members could remove time to conduct site visits to such places(moreso where a large number of trees are involved) which is close to them.  Vinod has said that this time he would raise a blanket objection for all these sites. After having got more information on the site, some of us could do a site visit to analyse the need. (this would of course require more members to actively help). We are also seeking other sources for getting such information much in advance.

* A simplified Maharashtra Tree Act for greater awareness and outreach. Work on this has started and I will keep you posted on further developments. Similarly other material such as posters and other material.