Maharashtra cabinet passes amendment that defines “heritage trees”; accords high protection status

In case, the entity is unable to take a compensatory afforestation in lieu of felling the bushes then the monetary compensation for reducing the “heritage tree” shall be considerably increased.

In a major push to guard bushes and the surroundings, the Maharashtra cupboard has authorized the formation of the Maharashtra Tree Authority which shall be empowered to make sure the safety of bushes throughout the state. The Uddhav Thackeray headed cupboard in the identical assembly additionally authorized an modification to the Maharashtra (City Areas) Safety and Preservation of Timber Act, 1975 after which bushes older than 50 years shall be labeled as “heritage bushes”, the Indian Categorical reported. The key overhaul within the surroundings legislations within the state will have to be handed from the legislative meeting in its coming session as the selections for now have been authorized within the type of an ordinance.

Which bushes will qualify as “heritage bushes”?
As per the modification handed by the cupboard, the tree which is roughly 50 years previous or extra shall be labeled as “heritage bushes”. As soon as the tree has been labeled as a ‘heritage tree”, it is going to be accorded extra safety and it is going to be harder for a challenge developer to fell the heritage tree. In different phrases, tasks that may’t do with out felling such bushes might want to step up their compensatory afforestation. As an example, if an infra developer removes a 52 yr “heritage tree”, she might want to plant 52 new vegetation that are no less than 6-8 toes excessive on the time of planting. As per the modification, the newly planted bushes may also be taken care of by the identical entity for no less than 7 years and survival of all such bushes will have to be ensured for a similar interval.

In case, the entity is unable to take a compensatory afforestation in lieu of felling the bushes then the monetary compensation for reducing the “heritage tree” shall be considerably increased.

Different key provisions
The newly constituted Maharashtra Tree Authority will regulate the felling of bushes for varied tasks throughout the state. As per the brand new modification any challenge that plans to chop no less than 200 bushes(estimated to be 5 years previous) might want to ship the proposal to the Maharashtra Tree Authority and solely after its sanction will the challenge transfer ahead. Then again, proposals to chop bushes that are estimated to be lower than 5 years previous shall be vetted by the native municipal authorities, in accordance with the brand new modification. The native tree authority in collaboration with the Maharashtra Tree Authority may also conduct a census of all bushes together with the “heritage bushes” each 5 years.

Environmentalists welcome new choice
The modifications authorized by the state cupboard may have a far-reaching optimistic affect on the state of surroundings if carried out in proper spirit, a number of environmentalists informed the Indian Categorical. Inexperienced activist Zoru Bhathena informed the Indian Categorical that the modification has a number of good provisions however earlier initiatives like these have remained on paper. Bhathena additionally mentioned that the real implementation of the legal guidelines will actually remodel the state right into a greener state. One other environmentalist D Stalin of NGO Vanshakti informed the Indian Categorical that the legal guidelines authorized by the federal government are much better than earlier legislations on the topic.