CSMC to discourage MSRTC from cutting 12 trees for EV charging station

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Taking cognizance of the news published in the newspaper, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has clarified that the civic administration will try its level best to evade cutting down of the trees proposed by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) for the installation of Electric Bus Charging Station at Cidco.

CSMC chief garden superintendent Vijay Patil said,“ We have not approved their application. Officially, we have invited objections from the citizens on their application. Later on, we will ask the Divisional Controller to submit the project plan. It will be then cross-verified through spot inspection and hearing. We will then sit across the table and the civic chief, who is also the Tree Authority, will take final decision on it. Our utmost aim will be to see whether the charging station could be built without harming the trees.”

Patil hinted that his team will also assess the age of trees, the significance of the species and explore the possibility of relocating them. The cost will have to be borne by the MSRTC. If relocation is not possible then MSRTC will be suggested for compensatory afforestation against the loss of these 12 trees.

According to an expert who remains anonymous said, “The green cover in Cidco is already reducing due to construction of properties and upcoming of new residential colonies on large scale. We have already lost many trees to develop the concrete jungle. Considering the sorrowful state of green belts in different neighbourhoods of Cidco, the municipal corporation raised green belts and parks in the stretch from Cidco Bus Stand to Harsul T-Point and a few other areas, under the Central Government’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), in 2019. Besides, the MSRTC, under the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2021, has decided to set up EV charging stations around the bus and railway depots in Maharashtra. ”