Greens hope for Nashik-like step from Aaditya to save Ajni trees

Nagpur: Enthused by state environment minister Aadtiya Thackeray’s tweet on redesigning a flyover to save one heritage tree and 450 others in Nashik, greens say why can’t the same be done to several infrastructural projects in Nagpur, specifically at Ajni Vann where a large number of heritage trees, some more than 100-year-old are proposed to be felled.
On Saturday, Thackeray, through his Twitter account, announced that he has asked the Nashik Municipal Corporation to re-work the design of a proposed flyover to save a 200-year-old banyan tree and more than 450 others.
Lauding the “sustainable approach”, city environmentalists who have been fighting a nearly two-year-long battle to save trees at Ajni, have urged the policy-makers to adopt similar outlook here. As reported by TOI, thousands of trees are facing axe for the proposed inter-modal station (IMS).
Stressing that alternatives are a must, architectural conservationist Sandip Pathe said that the government needs to re-think and shift the proposed IMS which is to come up at Ajni. “Khapri could be one of such alternative locations, which is appropriate for the building typology of IMS. Finding such alternatives is not just sustainable but also sensible when we are talking about hundreds of acre of land to be used for public projects, which are funded by taxpayers. Shifting such projects is a win-win situation for citizens and planners — on one hand we save thousands of trees and on the other hand we achieve new developments too,” said Pathe.
Like the 200-year-old tree in Nashik, there are various heritage trees in the urban forest of Ajni Vann that need to be conserved. Environmentalist and tree expert Prachi Mahurkar said, “The environment minister’s initiative shows that modifications are possible in developmental projects to protect the green cover. There are various age-old trees at Ajni, some being more than 100-year-old. It will be an irreplaceable loss if they are chopped down.”
Citing the recently amended Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, activists have appealed to Thackeray to intervene in the matter on an urgent basis. “The heritage neem, peepal and various other trees are home to a thriving biodiversity as well as have immense potential in tackling the increasing climate change crisis. The state should bring a halt to the IMS and ensure that it is shifted to some other site,” they said.