Pune Municipal Corporation’s tree transplantation effort in Koregaon Park has come under scrutiny after 45 of the 109 trees the civic body said it had transplanted were reported dead, while residents alleged that several mature trees were cut or left to dry at their original locations.
The road-widening project, undertaken between a prominent farm property and a five-star hotel in the Koregaon Park area, affected 193 trees. According to permissions issued by the Tree Authority, 108 trees could be fully felled and 85 were to be scientifically transplanted. A senior PMC official, quoted anonymously by Civic Mirror, said the civic body ultimately felled 38 trees and transplanted 109.
The official said the additional transplantations were carried out to save trees that had been approved for removal. However, the same official acknowledged that at least 45 of the 109 transplanted trees had already died. The report said the transplantation was undertaken around 18 months before its publication.
PMC defended the outcome by stating that scientific transplantation does not guarantee a 100 per cent survival rate. The official said the trees had been watered regularly, but differences in root systems and other technical factors prevented some of them from recovering and growing at their new locations.
The reported deaths have triggered criticism from environmental groups and local residents, who questioned whether the trees were actually moved or merely cut back at their original sites. Residents told Civic Mirror that large branches and canopies were removed from some trees, leaving only trunks. They also alleged that root balls had been prepared near several buildings and commercial properties, but that the trees were not subsequently transported to new locations.
The report cited two old rubber trees among those that had died. PMC records reportedly listed the trees as being between 20 and 22 years old, while residents claimed they were at least 50 years old. The discrepancy has raised questions about how tree age and condition are assessed in municipal records before approvals are granted for road projects.
Residents also alleged that trees near the ABIL building, Copa Mall, Supreme Towers and Poonawalla Fincorp premises had either survived only in small numbers after transplantation or had been left standing to dry. These claims were presented as part of local testimony and were not independently verified in the report.
The controversy extends beyond Koregaon Park. Residents in Kothrud, Bhoslenagar and Somwar Peth have also opposed tree removal linked to road projects, according to the report. Their central concern is that transplantation is being used as a formal mitigation measure without effective monitoring of whether trees are moved, maintained and kept alive.
The figures place the issue within a wider municipal accountability question. The approved plan involved a defined balance between felling and transplantation, but the reported implementation produced a different outcome: fewer trees were felled than permitted, more were listed as transplanted, and 45 of those transplanted trees were reported dead. The next point of public scrutiny is whether PMC will publish a tree-by-tree record showing each tree’s location, age, transplantation date, survival status and maintenance responsibility.
