BMC cracks whip on ad agency for felling highway trees
Files FIR against the firm, asks PWD and Railways to cancel permission for the hoardings for which the trees were cut on the Sion-Panvel Highway.
The advertising agency that hacked down nearly 100 trees on the Sion-Panvel Highway near Mankhurd to give a better view of their billboards has been asked to demolish their hoardings on the sites.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also filed a first information report (FIR) at the local police station and has asked the Public Works Department (PWD) and Railways to withdraw their permission for the hoardings. The approvals of the agencies were required as the advertising sites are located near a state highway and a railway line.
On Tuesday morning, motorists on the road found the trees chopped down right to their stumps. This was the second time that the trees have been destroyed on the road. In September 2002, the BMC had cancelled the licences of an advertising agency, S B Advertising, for hacking down hundreds of trees on the same stretch of the road.
Assistant municipal commissioner in charge of Mankhurd (E) ward, Chandrasekhar Choure, said he has also asked Bharat Petroleum to file a separate FIR because the trees were planted in 2001 and 2002 by the company and forest department as part of ‘Nisarg’ project.
The BMC complaint says that the agency has violated sections of Maharashtra (Protection of Trees) Act and Damage to Public Property Act. Bombay Advertisers, the firm that has put up the hoardings, was not available for comment.
Municipal guidelines make it clear that trees cannot be destroyed to accommodate hoardings or improve visibility of the advertising.
However, applications to trim trees can be made to the local assistant municipal commissioner, the Statutory Tree Authority and NGOs designated for the purpose. “But these permissions are rarely taken,” said a member of Friends of Trees, an environment group.