The Hindu : New Delhi News : Capital losing out on trees

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 09, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Capital losing out on trees

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, JUNE 8. Sample this. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Public Works Department (PWD) have a backlog of over 20,000 trees to plant, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is yet to plant 70,000 trees and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has a whopping one and half lakh trees to plant. And the backlog is only increasing, warn environmentalists.

According to the Delhi Tree Preservation Act of 1995, any agency which cuts trees has to compensate by planting 10 more to maintain the green cover of the Capital. And with the Capital's target of increasing its forest cover to 338 sq km, each tree counts, claim environmentalists.

And though the Capital has earned itself some "green points'' for tree plantation, the numerous developmental works and the beautification drives on in the city could be eating into the green. According to officials, the city has not been able to make up for the loss and provide good upkeep of the tress planted.

Said the chief PRO, DMRC, Anuj Dayal: "The DMRC has already allocated about 1.5 crores to the Forest Department to plant trees for the ones that have been axed for the Metro project. However, the DMRC does not check on the progress and maintenance of the saplings planted. But according to the information we have, saplings have been planted at the Kakrola, Issapur, Rewala, Khanpur and Gazipur areas, but the survival rate here is low.''

Speaking about plantation and maintenance, the director, horticulture, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), D.P. Singh, said: "Any plant which has a minimum girth of 15 cm is called a tree and the classification of the rest is not easy. Besides there is a lot of activity on this front in the Capital. For example, a lot of trees have been cut for the Metro work on the road connecting Patel Nagar and Pusa Road and proper re-plantation has not been done. We also have a huge problem with people wanting to cut trees for something as small as making parking space near their house. This has to stop. Also we admit that there is a need for proper maintenance of the replanted trees but we aren't the only agency doing that. We are looking for co-operation from various other groups in the area.''

Besides the low survival rates and lack of proper upkeep which environmentalists cite as the main flaws in the Tree Preservation Act, there is lack of proper planning in preserving the already existing trees in the city.

"While the Capital is getting faster, wider and cleaner roads, we are losing out on the trees. Bigger roads eat into the tree roots killing them; the pavements are built in a manner where the roots of large and small trees are choked. This also results in large tress falling during rain storms. Also bushes and small trees planted on the central verge are being sacrificed for expansion and are not often accounted for,'' pointed out the Director of Toxics Link, Ravi Aggarwal.

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