Pune: Garden Chief Under Scanner Over Two Conflicting Reports on 52 Felled Trees, Gets Notice From Municipal Commissioner

Pimpri Chinchwad, 30th October 2026: Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has issued a show-cause notice to its garden department chief, Mahesh Gargote, over allegations that the estimated age of 52 trees felled for a developer’s project in Pimpri was drastically reduced, potentially lowering the compensation payable to the civic body.

The complaint, raised by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members, alleges that a report initially pegged the trees’ cumulative age at 1,018 years, but a subsequent assessment brought it down to just 104 years.

AAP youth wing state president Raviraj Kale alleged that the revised report was prepared under pressure from corporators to benefit the developer. At the rate of Rs15,000 per year of tree age, the compensation could have been around Rs1.5 crore based on the first report, but fell to Rs15.6 lakh after the revision, he claimed.