KOLKATA: The forest department has asked Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to sanction building plans only when it gives a no-objection certificate (NOC) to the plot owner or developer after ensuring that space has been identified for compensatory plantation for trees that need to be cut on the construction plot. This, forest officers said, would ensure proper compensation for the urban greenery that is lost.
For every tree that is cut, the norm requires five trees to be planted. This is to ensure that at least one sapling survives. There have been instances in which no compensatory plantation was carried out, as well as those in which poor care led to the death of all saplings.
Currently, the KMC buildings department sanctions plans after an NOC is issued by the civic parks department once it is convinced that felling the trees is required for the development proposed on the plot. It is only after the plan sanction that developers and plot owners approach the forest department for a nod to fell the trees.
At the meeting held in KMC headquarters and chaired by commissioner Dhaval Jain, divisional forest officer (utilization) Arup Mukherjee pointed out that these measures were required to prevent the loss of greenery.
He told civic officials that by the time they are approached for an NOC, there is not much scope for them to hold developers accountable.
Civic officials have welcomed the proposal and said they intended to implement it soon. “It is a matter of regret that on several occasions, some promoters chop trees before an NOC is given from the state forest department,” conceded a KMC parks department official.
Green activists welcomed the development. “While five saplings cannot ever compensate for the loss of a full-grown tree, the plantation needs to be carried out properly and these saplings need to be cared for so that they grow and survive,” said Bonani Kakkar of PUBLIC.
