Environmentalists staged a protest at Tapovan in Nashik on Wednesday against the Nashik Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) proposed plan to cut down around 1,700 trees for various development works.
Activists gathered at the site and voiced strong opposition to the civic body’s move, vowing to continue their agitation regardless of the outcome of ongoing legal proceedings. “We will continue our movement until the authorities officially confirm that the trees will not be cut,” an activist said during the protest.
The protest comes even as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has extended its interim stay on all tree-felling activities in the city until June 19. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on the same day before the Pune bench of the tribunal.
The stay order was initially passed on April 7 while hearing a petition filed by city-based environmentalist Manish Baviskar, who challenged the large-scale tree felling proposed as part of infrastructure works planned ahead of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela 2027.
During the subsequent hearing on April 28, the bench comprising Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and judicial member Sujit Kumar Bajpayee directed that the interim relief be continued until the next scheduled hearing. Environmentalists have been consistently opposing the proposed tree cutting, arguing that the exercise would severely impact the city’s green cover and ecology. They also raised objections during the civic body’s public consultation process on tree felling, urging authorities to explore alternatives that minimize environmental damage.
With the next hearing scheduled on June 19, both the civic body and environmental groups are awaiting the tribunal’s direction, which is likely to shape the future course of the proposed works in the area.
