Times of
India: Pune: Tuesday, April 01, 2014.
In wake of the controversy surrounding the
appointment of the Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) tree authority, in which
several city-based non governmental organizations (NGO) were left out, a
citizen's initiative has decided that it will follow the work of the body
closely.
"We will be setting up a tree committee of
citizens. This committee will follow the work of PMC's tree authority and the
decisions taken by its members. It will be something like a shadow
cabinet," said Deepak Bidkar, convener of Save Pune Hills Initiative.
The emphasis of the new committee will remain on
improving the tree cover in the city. The goal is not to be an obstructionist,
but to ensure that the tree authority does not abuse its power, Bidkar
explained.
He said the members of the citizens' committee
will rely on Right to Information (RTI) applications to follow the tree
authority's work, including minutes of meetings, permissions given out to cut
trees and reports.
Members of the committee will then verify what is
mentioned in the documents with the ground reality.
The committee will have 13 members, including two
representatives from political parties. The rest of the committee will be from
other NGOs, tree activists and botanical experts in the city, Bidkar added.
"The name of the committee has not been
finalized because it seems that the issue of NGO representatives on the tree
authority is not settled yet. The PMC has been served a legal notice on the
issue and if it goes to court, something may still emerge," he said.
Bidkar has already received 16 applications and
phone enquiries are still coming in.
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