The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has postponed its decision to spend Rs 20 lakh to purchase 100 artificial trees on a leasing agreement in honour of the G-20 summit. Ten artificial trees will be purchased with funding from corporate social responsibility (CSR) instead of 100 artificial trees.
In January, the city will host the G-20 summit. There will be participants from both the national and international levels at this conference. In honour of this conference, the municipal corporation has placed a strong emphasis on road beautification. As part of it, the municipal corporation's electrical department made the decision to lease 100 artificial trees for Rs 20 lakh under the guise of aesthetics and electric lighting. The municipality received criticism for this choice, though. The municipal corporation's electrical division is in charge of lighting the city's key thoroughfares and intersections. On the road from the airport to Senapati Bapat, 100 artificial trees were supposed to be rented for eight days. The municipality will pay a rent of approximately Rs 20,000 per tree.
Instead of these artificial trees, various institutions and groups argued that real trees should be preserved and money should stop being wasted. As a result, the commissioner gave the electricity department the order to put the decision on hold.