The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) planted 12,497 trees on roadsides and in gardens in 2017-18, according to its latest environment report. A few months ago, the BMC announced it wanted to plant 10,000 trees in 2018-19.
Mumbai has 29.75 lakh trees, most of them in the western suburbs. The State government has set a target of planting 13 crore trees this year, following which the BMC had announced in June that it intends to plant 10,000 trees in its various gardens and roadsides up to June 2019. Besides, it had announced its intention to give away 25,000 saplings for free all of last month. The offer reportedly received a good response.
“As part of the State government’s drive, we were given a target to plant 10,000 trees. We exceeded that. Besides, these are only the trees that were planted by the BMC. Other agencies such as the Forest Department and the BPT have their own targets. When everybody works together, we can definitely restore Mumbai’s lost green cover,” said an officer from the BMC’s Gardens Department.
The municipal corporation has given preference to indigenous trees such as neem, peepal, and Ashok. The corporation also trimmed around 78,990 trees before the monsoon and cut 844 dangerous trees.
Environmentalists, however, questioned the claim. “I don’t think BMC’s claim is legitimate. I travel extensively, and I haven’t seen anything around the city. How many trees have been planted? Where have they been planted? They never divulge the details,” said environmentalist D. Stalin.
The report also claims that the BMC has removed concrete from the base of 12,789 trees. This is being done following a case in the National Green Tribunal claiming that tree bases were being concretised, which eventually kills the trees. The NGT had directed the BMC to remove this concrete.
“That is also a hollow claim. Only about 60% of the work has been done. Every tree has a different spread of roots. Gulmohar and banyan trees have roots spreading laterally and need to be cleared accordingly. Instead, they have created small flower pot-like areas which are not enough. We need to do much more,” Mr. Stalin said.
(With inputs from Shivani Dubey)
