The Nashik Municipal Corporation has issued a notice to cut, plant or prune more than 1,800 trees to build Tapovana Sadhugram for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela, which is facing strong opposition from environmentalists and citizens.
Objections have been registered to the Municipal Corporation’s notice, and on Wednesday, environmentalists rushed to Tapovana and held a Chipko protest against the marked trees. It was demanded that a plan be prepared for the ‘Green Kumbh’ announced by the administration without cutting a single tree.
Tapovana Sadhugram is set up for the sadhus and mahants who come from all over the country during the Kumbh Mela held on the banks of the Godavari. To free up this space, NMC has marked more than 1,800 trees of various species.
Objections and suggestions were sought by issuing a notice regarding the cutting, planting or pruning of trees. More than 200 objections have been received after the deadline, and the municipal corporation will hold a hearing on it on Monday or Tuesday.
Environmentalists and citizens have jointly opposed the cutting of trees. Earlier, the municipal corporation had planned to demolish the Marathi school building and build a luxurious rest house for the commissioner, which was postponed due to opposition.
Now, since such a large number of trees will be cut for Sadhugram, there has been a wave of protest. The trees marked as Tapovana include old trees like neem, tamarind, and jamun.
Environmentalists, including Rohan Deshpande, Rajendra Bagul, Raju Desale and others, staged a protest at Tapovana Chipko in the morning. Holding placards saying ‘Save trees, save the environment, clean Nashik, green Nashik’, they protested by hugging trees.
Although the administration has declared the Kumbh Mela as ‘Green Kumbh’, cutting down hundreds of trees for Sadhugram is inconsistent with it. The protesters claimed that cutting down trees on the auspicious places of the sadhus and mahants is wrong, and only the sadhus and mahants will oppose it.
They demanded that a plan for a green Kumbh be prepared without cutting down a single tree, and that the hearing on cutting down trees be held in the open space of the auspicious place instead of the municipal hall.
The municipal corporation has announced a plan to cut down more than 1,700 trees, and there is opposition in various places, including European countries. In the 2015 Kumbh, Sadhugram was on 350 acres; now it will be expanded to 1,152 acres. The Nashik Kumbh Mela will be held between 2026-28. Environmentalists have demanded that an alternative site be found for Sadhugram.
