RTI Reveals MahaMetro Cut 2,426 Trees for Pune Metro, Planted 14,134 in Compensation But Has No Idea if They Survived
An RTI query filed by a Pune activist has revealed that MahaMetro cut or affected 2,426 trees for the Pune Metro project and planted 14,134 trees as compensatory plantation at locations including Lonavala, Magarpatta City, Wagholi, Pashan Panchavati, Akurdi Metro Eco Park, Taljai Hill, ITI Aundh, Alandi GREF Centre, Deccan College and Khadki Cantonment Board.
However, MahaMetro's RTI response admitted it does not currently have information on the survival or present condition of these 14,134 trees. The organisation also does not maintain separate records of maintenance expenditure and has taken no penal action under tree protection law for the trees cut for the Metro project. MahaMetro said all trees were alive during the contractual three-year maintenance period and that a security deposit of Rs 10,000 per planted tree was deposited with the Tree Authority.
The activist questioned the effectiveness of compensatory plantation, saying trees are routinely cut for Metro projects while claims of thousands being planted elsewhere are made without any credible follow-up on actual survival. He pointed out that 139 more trees are proposed to be cut, with MahaMetro committing to plant 3,050 in compensation, raising the same unanswered question of long-term survival beyond the contractual period.
For a city already rapidly losing green cover to urbanisation and infrastructure expansion, the absence of current data on 14,134 supposedly planted trees is not just a bureaucratic gap. It is a question of environmental accountability that demands a clear, verifiable and honest answer from one of Pune's biggest infrastructure agencies.
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