Ex-prof accuses IISER of illegal tree felling

In December ultimate year, Milind Watve, a scientist on the Indian Institute of Science and Education Research (IISER), Pune, resigned from his carrier, protesting illegal hacking of trees at the campus.

The former IISER worker has once more made up our minds to raise the problem of alleged unlawful slicing of trees within the establishment.

On Monday morning, Watve wrote a detailed publish on his social media web page, questioning the credibility of the research establishment and its insensitivity in opposition to the environment. On December 12 ultimate year, the scientist had alleged that masses of trees within the institute were being felled at the pretext of various construction works performed sans permission from the civic body.

To mark his protest, Watve had resigned from his place of chairman of panorama committee established by the institute.

“I carried out a detailed study of the satellite images and located that no less than 564 trees were minimize between 2014 and 2018. The main points were shared with the institute on December 17 as there are researchers working in earth sciences and ecology” said Watve.

Watve also added that he waited for 2 months to hear back on his analysis but didn't receive any response from the authorities concerned.

The scientist then resorted to submitting a Right to Information (RTI) question, in quest of the choice of trees minimize and wanted to understand if any permissions were got for a similar. “The software was once submitted in conjunction with the satellite images of the vanished green quilt and the record to hunt an explanation,” he said.

However, in its answer, the institute claimed to have no ‘professional file’ of the felled trees. “This is as excellent as saying that a theft by no means happened. Even the RTI answer utterly ignores the alternate noticed within the satellite images and does no longer supply any clarification,” he lamented.

Speaking to Mirror, Watve said that it is sudden that a nationwide science research institute that has access to high-end generation has didn't do any analysis at the issues raised.

“In reality, IISER, Pune, has top scientists doing high-quality research. They need to come to a decision, at this crucial moment, whether or not they want to stand by the truth. If they don’t, folks cannot be blamed if they begin doubting the institute’s credibility,” he added.

Posting photos as evidence on social media, he said, “Images 1 and a pair of are the similar web page in February versus November 2017, while the photographs 3 and four of the similar websites within the year 2017 versus 2018.”

“I had shown with the assistance of satellite images that the green quilt has substantially reduced at the campus, while a lot of this harm will have been easily avoided,” Watve said.

The former scientist said he would quickly bring up the problem with the Pune Municipal Corporation.

An professional observation from the institute said, “IISER, Pune, is committed to increasing the tree quilt at the campus in a sustainable way. Plans are underway to plant extra trees in time for the impending monsoon.”

The observation additional said that the institute has no file of the green quilt and trees planted inside its premises; therefore it would no longer comment at the reduced choice of trees.