The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has formed a new Tree Authority to oversee the protection of Mumbai’s green cover. The decision was taken at the general body meeting held on Monday, March 30.
The committee includes representatives from multiple political parties based on their strength in the BMC. Five members are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Four members are from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction). Two members are from the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction). One member each has been nominated by the Indian National Congress and the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
These members were nominated by their respective parties. Mayor Ritu Tawde announced the appointments in the Municipal House. The Tree Authority will take part in decisions related to tree protection, permissions for tree cutting, and green policies in the city.
The members of the committee are:
* From BJP: Ganesh Khankar, Sayali Raghunath Kulkarni, Rohan Rathod, Siddharth Sharma, and Harsh Bhargav Patel.
* From Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction): Kishori Pednekar, Milind Vaidya, Pramod Sawant, and Harshala More.
* From Shiv Sena (Shinde faction): Varsha Swapnil Tembulkar and Bhaskar Shetty.
* From Congress: Ibrahim Qureshi.
* From AIMIM: Vijay Ubale.
Hetal Gala will be part of the authority as an ex-officio member in her role as chairperson of the Market and Garden Committee. The municipal commissioner will serve as the chairperson of the Tree Authority. With the new panel in place, several pending proposals are expected to move forward.
The formation of the authority was delayed for a few weeks due to a disagreement over the appointment of the tree officer. Superintendent of gardens Jitendra Pardeshi and deputy municipal commissioner (garden) Ajitkumar Ambi could not agree on who should take the post.
The issue was resolved after Pardeshi referred to guidelines based on rulings of the Supreme Court of India. These rulings state that only a tree specialist can be appointed as the tree officer. The administration accepted this position. The next step will be the appointment of expert members. The number of experts can be equal to or less than the number of elected representatives on the panel.