BMCs proposal to appoint Pune-based company,Lotus Environment,to conduct tree census in the city was Thursday shot down by the Tree Authority Committee. The Pune-based company was earlier blacklisted by the Pune Municipal Corporation for failing to fulfil its contract with it. While three companies were shortlisted for the project,the lowest bidder was Lotus Environment. As we have not received any formal intimation from the Pune Municipal Corporation of blacklistng this company,we had planned to go ahead with the proposal, said K R Yadav,Superintendent of Gardens and Tree department. The civic bodys tree census programme,which was expected to begin in July last year had run into trouble last year for the lack of enough bids. Finally,the bidding process saw three companies bid for Rs 6-crore project. Since the bidding process was opened in October,contractors have cried foul saying the civic body reserved the Rs 6-crore tree census project to a single company. Most of the other bidders were rejected on technical grounds. They put conditions in the tender to include only companies that have prior experience in conducting tree census with GPS,and those that conduct carbon sequestration, the owner of a company who wanted to bid for the project said. Using GPS technology,the civic body hopes to bring more transparency in recording the citys green cover,say officials. We have rejected the proposal for tree census as the company which was supposed to conduct the census has been blacklisted by the Pune Municipal Corporation for failing to complete the project on several counts, said Shubha Raul,Tree Committee member and Shiv Sena corporator. While the civic administration is planning to call for new tenders,its ambitious project to conduct tree census and find solutions for the dwindling green cover is once again getting delayed. The civic body had planned to conduct the tree census including mapping of the trees and recording details such as age,type,height,girth and roots of the trees. The new census will also record other aspects,such as rarity of species,health status,condition of trees and the amount of space each tree root requires to prevent tree-falling accidents. The last census was conducted in 2007,when the civic body recorded 19.17 lakh trees.
