The Bombay high court on Tuesday suggested that the Pune civic body to take the help of school and college students of Pune for replanting of the trees, which would be cut down for the widening of the road on the 800-kilometre Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway.
A division bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.A. Sayed was hearing an appeal filed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) seeking its permission to cut down 1,307 trees to widen the highway running between Mumbai and Bengaluru. These trees fall under the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). NHAI wants to widen the road from four to six lanes.
However, neither of the bodies, NHAI and PMC, was willing to undertake the job of replanting the trees.
In a previous hearing, the court had asked NHAI and PMC to hold a meeting along with the concerned state forest department to decide on the amount of money that needed to be deposited and if another area could be allotted for replanting of the trees.
On Tuesday, advocate Ashutosh Kumbakoni, appearing for PMC, said that the NHAI had asked the corporation to cut and replant the trees and that NHAI would pay for it. He added that the civic body is unwilling to undertake the job and is planning to appoint an independent agency to complete the task.
The bench then suggested that PMC could take the help of school and college students to replant trees.
“Why don’t you (PMC) take school and college students’ help? Instead of spending time playing computer games during summer vacations, they can plant trees,” the bench said. It then postponed the matter by a week.