Tapovan controversy

Maharashtra is pouring over Rs 25,000 crore into the 2027 Kumbh Mela. At the heart of the controversy is Tapovan — a stretch of land along the Godavari where, according to Hindu mythology, Lord Ram spent part of his exile. For every Kumbh, temporary structures go up for the Sadhugram. Then the event ends, the sadhus leave, and the land sits empty for another 12 years.

This time, the NMC had bigger plans. In late 2025, residents spotted felling notices on trees across Tapovan — up to 1,800 of them. The corporation wasn’t just planning a temporary Sadhugram. It wanted a permanent MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) hub. Protests erupted. Allegations of a politician-builder nexus flew. Even BJP ally and late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar spoke out against the felling. The MICE hub tender, floated in December, was cancelled.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was unmoved. “Some people have started doing activism without any reason,” he said. “Some have become environmentalists for political reasons. The Kumbh Mela is a sign of our culture that joins us with the environment. We will find a way so that the environment won’t get destroyed — but some people want obstacles in the way of Kumbh. We will not let that happen.”

When The Indian Express visited Tapovan this month, hundreds — possibly thousands — of trees bore yellow crosses painted by the NMC. On the larger trees, the crosses had since been painted over in green. “These trees were marked for felling,” said environmentalist Gaurav Deshmukh. “After the protests, they tried to cover their tracks.” Activists, for their part, have inscribed ‘Sri Ram’ on the trunks — in hopes of preventing them from being cut.

In the latest development, the Maharashtra government on June 5 approved Rs 2,267 crore for acquisition of land at Tapovan.

What happened in 2015

The roots of this battle go back further than 2015. A PIL concerning the felling of 50,000 trees by the NMC and NHAI had been filed in the Bombay High Court in 2006. As the Sinhasta Kumbh Mela approached, the NMC piggybacked on this ongoing case, filing a civil application seeking permission to cut 2,400 trees for road construction, widening, and the Sadhugram and WTP areas.

The court directed the NMC to submit a report to the Chief Conservator of Forests, who, however passed the job to his deputy — without the court’s permission. The court scrapped that report and constituted a fresh committee: the Chief Conservator of Forests alongside two botany professors from Savitribai Phule Pune University. After visiting all sites, the committee recommended felling 1,145 trees and transplanting 643, with compensatory plantation at a 1:3 ratio and fresh planting of 16,288 trees.

Even that wasn’t the end of it. Petitioners pushed back, and the court took note: “This is not the first time the Sinhastha Kumbhamela has been held in Nashik. In the past, large numbers of devotees visited and at that time no such exercise of such magnitude to fell hundreds of trees was undertaken by the Municipal Corporation.”

The court accepted the committee’s report, but added its own conditions. No Ficus trees — Vad, Nandruk, Peepal — could be touched. Roads 1 and 21 were off-limits entirely, saving 295 more trees. Transplantation and new plantation had to be carried out under a minimum five-year maintenance contract. When the final count was done, around 700 trees were approved for felling and 600 for transplantation — less than a third of what the NMC had originally sought.

‘Vague’ public notices, challenged in NGT

Since late 2025, NMC has issued 35-40 public notices for felling of over 1000 trees for expansion of 28 roads, construction of brides, STP plant, water supply line, and other such construction, informs Garden superintendent at NMC Vivek Bhadane. At least 100-150 of these trees are set to be transplanted. Till now, 300-400 trees have already been felled, Bhadane said. Another 800-1,000 trees located at Tapovan are also set for felling out of which 100-150 will be transplanted.

“Eighty per cent of the trees for felling are of Kasid, Babul, Subabul and such variety. Fifty per cent of the trees are foreign while 50 per cent are Indian. But even though they might be Indian varieties, they are not useful. Kasid is Indian but it is not useful. We have reduced the felling number from 6,000-7,000 to now 2,000,” Bhadane said.

“The number has increased due to Tapovan. A lot of shrubs have some up there, and people have done massive plantations of Kasid. This is why the issue was created. We have not planted trees there, people had taken out some rallies. They are 10-12 year old trees. If you see the Google image of the last Kumbh Mela, the area was barren,” said Bhadane.

Multiple petitions were filed at the NGT in Pune against these notices. Petitioner Manish Baviskar has alleged that the notices are vague, incomplete and non-compliant with statutory requirements. He alleged that they do not disclose the number of trees proposed to be cut, do not specify the exact area of tree cutting, and do not mention compensatory plantation details.

Finding merit in this petition, the NGT in April said that there was ‘error in the notices’ and issued a stay on tree felling in the city till the next hearings.

Advocate Sriram Pingale, representing Baviskar, said, “The crux of the litigation history with respect to the environment at Nashik lies in the Kumbh preparations. You will see 2003, 2015 and now 2027, at the time of Kumbh preparation they tend to cut the trees. For the rest of the 12 years they do not plant as many trees as they are going to cut in the name of Kumbh preparations.”

Petitioners also allege that NMC is cutting heritage trees from the species that the High Court had specifically disallowed in 2015. Pingale said, “They are in contempt of the High Court. The Supreme Court had also confirmed that order. The only way was for them to approach the High Court to seek permission before cutting any tree. In the past NMC has gone to the court for permission and they have been given permission. Instead of that they opted for this route where there was no tree committee as postulated by the tree act.”

He added, “Compensatory afforestation has to be done before the trees are cut. They are not willing to do that. They want to siphon off the money. If they come up with a good ratio, like the planting of 100 six-feet tall trees for felling of a 100-year old tree, we have no problem. But they are not doing anything.”

Currently, the stay on tree felling continues till the next hearing on June 19.

High Court observations for tree cutting

In its 2015 order, the Bombay High Court also made important observations with regards to trees that could not be cut for road expansion. “The trees falling in the middle of road or in the footpath shall not be cut in the process of felling of trees for widening/strengthening of existing roads. Similarly, if big trees exist on the road to be widened, endeavour shall be made to protect those trees by reducing the width of the road at a particular place where such big trees exist or by creating small islands, circles etc. around the trees to preserve those trees,” the High Court remarked.

Environmentalists allege that these guidelines are also being violated by the NMC. They point to two huge heritage trees at Gangapur Road—each more than 5 metres in diameter—that have been cut for transplantation by the corporation.

Garden Superintendent Bhadane said that most of the trees being cut for road expansion are dangerous trees. “These trees have caused more than 40 deaths due to accidents. Since the stay, there have been two deaths at Dindori Road. We have many suggestions but practically they are not possible. Trees are in the centre, if we make an island around it, where will the road go?”

“For roads that have approved expansion of 30 metres, we are making only 24 metre road (to save trees). Still these many trees are in the way. At some places we are making just 18 metre roads due to trees. So mostly the trees are within 18 metres. Even here we have let many trees go.” Currently, these roads range from 9 metres to 15 metres, he informed.

In response, Baviskar says, “How can trees be held responsible for deaths? If we have not made the efforts to make necessary protections around the trees, it is wrong to hold the trees responsible.”

The Indian Express did not receive a response to a questionnaire sent to Kumbh Mela Commissioner IAS Shekhar Singh.

‘Called anti-Hindu for speaking for trees’

Legal petitions by environmentalists since 2006 have prevented the felling of thousands of trees in Nashik. Manish Baviskar (43) is a computer scientist who has been working full-time on environmental issues since the last three to four years.

He says, “How can we stay quiet if heritage trees are cut? When we are trying to save 400-year old trees it is being said that we are objecting to the Kumbh Mela. They are deforesting Tapovan not for the Sadhugram, but for the MICE Hub. And we were proven right. Still we were called anti-Kumbh, anti-Hindu, anti-sadhu, anti-development, and various other names. But we are ourselves Hindus and our saints have said that trees should be protected.”

Many young activists also joined hands to save trees in their city. Dramatic visuals of youngsters climbing up on two trees on Gangapur road before the NMC cut them down had gone viral on social media in April. Aditi Patel (28) is a Chartered Accountant by profession. “A day before we got to know they were cutting the tree, the next day we planned that we would try protecting at least some of the heritage ‘Ficus’ trees. There was no motive of ‘protesting’. To get the attention of people present there, we climbed up on the tree with posters. So that people would at least notice the point we were trying to make.”

Biologist Sheetal Gore got drawn into the movement while doing a tree-mapping activity at Tapovan. Standing below the two heritage trees on Gangapur Road, she said: “If you look at videos from that day when the branches of this tree were being cut, there were nests on the tree. Despite the court’s measures, no ornithologist was present to relocate them. The biodiversity as a whole has to be protected.”

As she spoke, a bird landed atop the cut trunk behind her — presumably searching for a home that was no longer there.