Boosting transparency, public participation

A system is now finally in place to make the tree-felling exercise more open and transparent.

The measures to be followed are:

The BBMP / Forest Department uploads applications for tree felling on the Palike website, along with a public notice.

Citizens are given 10 days to submit their objections.

The Tree Officer notes the objections, places them before the Tree Expert Committee (TEC).

The Committee inspects the site to ascertain whether the identified trees should be felled or retained / transplanted, prepares a report and submits to the Tree Officer.

Based on TEC recommendations, the Tree Officer issues the permission.

All permissions are uploaded on the BBMP website.

All plans for compensatory plantation (in the ratio of 1:10) are also uploaded on the
website.

Permissions can be acted upon only after the concerned authority submits the compensatory plans to the Tree Officer, and the documents uploaded on the Forest Department website.

Periodic reports on the survivability of the transplanted tree is submitted by the project agency. The reports are uploaded on the Forest Department website.

The Bangalore Environment Trust (BET) has collated a series of significant observations made by the High Court to ensure that the Tree Act provisions are implemented strictly:

According to the principle of sustainable development and precautionary principle, the authorities should apply their mind to the question of saving the maximum number of trees while carrying out a development project.

Irrespective of the applicability of the Tree Act, the State Government and its agencies should not act on their own but will have to take the assistance of the experts in the field.

The Tree Officer should frequently visit the location of the transplanted trees to ascertain whether they are being taken care of.

Check out DH's latest videos: