Pune: The Agri-Horticulture Society of Western India that manages the Empress Botanical Garden on Thursday strongly opposed the govt’s alleged proposal to transfer approximately 2.5 acres for the construction of the Cantonment Court building.The office bearers said they were in the know of the proposal though they had not received any notice about the same. The govt authorities said there was no need for a notice as the court was not being built on the garden’s land. The facility would come up on the govt land adjacent to it, they said.Pratap Pawar, the president of the society, said, “The city is turning into a concrete jungle and these are some of the last remaining green spaces in Pune. When a lot of govt land is lying waste otherwise, why is the govt being adamant about using this particular land? We are opposed to any construction in the land belonging to Empress Garden. We appeal to people of Pune to stand with us to save the trees and the rich flora and fauna in it.”The society’s honorary secretary, Suresh Pingale, said, “The entire Empress Garden stands in about 40 acres of land. This 134-year-old garden contains hundreds of rare trees apart from everything else. Time and again there have been attempts to take away our land for construction and every time we have opposed it to save this oasis for Puneites. We hope the government will reconsider its plan.”Govt officials objected to the claim that the garden occupied about 40 acres. “We have checked the lease documents and measured the land. As per the lease renewed in 2019 for 30 years, Empress Garden is spread over approximately 37 acres. Next to this land are parcels belonging to different govt bodies, such as irrigation department, public works department and forest department. These departments’ land is being used to construct the court,” said a senior official of the revenue department.He said said they had transferred 40 guntha and then another 20 guntha of this additional land to the ownership of the Bombay high court for the construction of the Cantonment Court building. “But since the development rules and FSI are lower in the cantonment areas, they wanted an additional 40 guntha to make eight courtrooms, judges’ chambers and other necessary infrastructure. We completed the measurement of the land 15 days ago and decided to transfer another 40 guntha available. The proposal for the same will be sent to the state govt next week,” the senior official said.He said about 37 acres was leased out to Empress Garden, but it was occupying more space than that. “Having said that, we will not break their walled compound. The garden is not being destroyed nor is their leased land encroached upon. We are just transferring govt land for the construction of the Cantonment Court,” he said.The garden receives about 1,000 people daily. During flower shows, the numbers increase exponentially. It has heritage trees, and diverse flora and fauna.
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