Pune: Over 8,600 Trees Cut in Four Years, PMC Unsure How Many Survived After Replantation
Pune, 18th May 2026: Even as the city faces rising temperatures, worsening air pollution and rapidly shrinking green cover, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) does not have a complete record of how many trees were replanted or survived after large-scale tree-cutting permissions granted for development projects.
The issue came to light after corporator Devendra Vadke raised a question during the PMC general body meeting regarding tree-cutting permissions and compensatory plantation carried out across the city.
According to information provided by the garden department, the PMC granted permission to cut 8,674 trees over the last four years for various development works. In return, permission was granted for the transplantation of 6,321 trees.
However, the civic administration admitted that it does not have consolidated data on how many new trees were actually planted or how many transplanted trees survived after relocation.
As per PMC records, an independent Tree Authority was constituted in February 2018, and since April 2018, assistant commissioners of regional offices have been functioning as tree officers.
The data further revealed that among the 15 regional offices, the Warje-Karvenagar ward recorded plantation of 3,216 new trees, while the Wanawadi-Ramtekdi ward reported 916 plantations. However, officials failed to provide a comprehensive citywide report on the survival and maintenance of these trees.
The issue has once again raised concerns over the PMC’s commitment to environmental protection at a time when Pune has witnessed temperatures crossing 43 degrees Celsius along with increasing urban concretisation.
