Aditya Thackeray’s intervention helps save 400-yr-old tree, tiger corridor

Sunday 26 july 2020/ writed by kaspersahu

A relentless campaign by villagers and environmentalists and a timely intervention by Maharashtra’s Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray have helped save a 400-year-old banyan tree and a crucial tiger corridor in Maharashtra from various developmental projects.

After the people from Bhose village in Sangli district of western Maharashtra came together to protest against the banyan tree being felled down as part of the Solapur-Sangli-Kolhapur-Ratnagiri Expressway project, the villagers and environmentalists organized a novel protest by hugging the banyan tree and seeking Aditya’s intervention in their crusade.

Simultaneously, a protest broke out over the auctioning of auction the Bander coal mine in Tadoba Tiger Sanctuary, Chandrapur district, which would have destroyed more than 1,200 hectares of prime forest land, plus the tiger corridor linking the reserve with sanctuaires in Wardha and Amravati districts.

On July 16, Aaditya Thackeray wrote a letter to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari making a strong case for saving the tree through changes in the alignment of the Ratnagiri-Solapur highway on state highway 166 which passes through the village.

“This is welcome news. Coal ministry has issued notification to withdraw Bander Coal Mine from auction list of 41 coal blocks. Happy to note that the eco sensitive region of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve was dropped from the list,” Aditya had tweeted on Wednesday.

Simultaneously on Wednesday last, a team from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) visited the spot for a survey and to discuss the issue in detail with Bhose villagers, the temple trustees and environmentalists.

The visiting NHAI concluded that it would not be necessary to cut off the banyan tree but trim its branches a bit for the highway to run beside without causing any obstructions to the traffic and realign the service road to save the tree.

Subsequently on Friday, Aditya tweeted: “A 400 year old banyan tree in Sangli a District and a Tiger corridor saved yesterday. Feels good. 2 interventions where I had humbly requested 2 Union Ministers and received a positive response from both to assist saving the environment”.

“I have to thank CM Uddhav Thackeray ji for personally writing to the Union Govt on the same. Along with him, Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod ji had written too. Bandu Dhotre ji led the movement on ground and @Jairam_Ramesh,” the Tourism Minister added