NASHIK: Even as the tree committee of the Nashik Municipal Corporation NMC ) gave its nod for the removal of trees on land belonging to the civil hospital, there is no decision on the trees along the stretch of the Nashik-Pune highway.The tree committee gave its nod for the trees to be cleared, paving the way for the construction of the mother and child wing with a capacity to accommodate 100 beds. The approval was given in the backdrop of the death of 55 newborn babies in August at the hospital.There are over 200 trees that need to be hacked as they are coming in the way of the proposed widening of the Pune highway along a stretch of around 2.5km from Sinnar Phata to Darna river. While most of the highway widening work is done from Darna river to Sinnar, this stretch has become a bottleneck.The state Public Works Department (PWD) is currently widening the stretch from Sinnar Phata to Sinnar of the Nashik-Pune highway. A PWD official said they are awaiting the Bombay high court on whether the trees should be hacked. Once they get the approval, it was just a matter of time for the road widening work of the stretch.The official said that the tree committee has given its nod for the trees to be cut for the project, but tree lovers raised objections to the hacking.A senior PWD official said they expected the matter to come to them for hearing in the next few days. However, in the past as well, the same officials had said that the decision was expected anytime.It has been over three years that motorists have been commuting on the Nashik-Pune highway. There have been talks about the widening of this stretch. However, there is no sign of work so far, though the remaining patch of the Sinnar Phata-Sinnar road was nearly completed with some patches left at certain spots. Many Nashikites go to work at Sinnar and a few residential areas have come up along the highway on Nashik Road because of the large number of commuters.In the meantime, industrial executives who have properties in Sinnar send their children to Nashik city for education. Because of this, school students end up spending over an hour travelling between Sinnar and the city.A PWD official said they took up encroachment drive in February to clear the structures along the highway near Shinde village. The existing trees are the last hurdle. There are a altogether 236 trees on the 2.5-km stretch between Sinnar Phata and Darna river. On getting the HC nod, the road will be completed soon.

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