The deadlock over the cutting of trees at the Hindmata junction at Dadar is holding up the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s work of augmenting a storm water drain, leaving the flood-prone area vulnerable to the ravages of yet another monsoon.
At least 54 trees need to be removed for the job, for which the BMC needs the Mumbai Tree Authority’s permission. With the Bombay High Court (HC) barring the tree authority from taking any more decisions, the matter has come to a standstill.
Every year, the monsoon inundates the Hindmata junction, causing untold misery to pedestrians and motorists. Till a decade ago, rainwater would not recede at this crucial junction for hours. After the newly-constructed Britannia pumping station too failed to give relief, a three-fold plan was chalked out to prevent flooding. This includes constructing a 900-m box drain at S.S. Rao road, augmentation of an underground storm water drain at Chivda Gully through micro-tunneling and augmentation of a 800-m storm water drain at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road. The 800-m drain is supposed to be 3.2-m wide. Work on the drain was started in January 2018 and was supposed to be completed by this monsoon. However, work on only about 375 m is over, and the deadline is unlikely to be met.
Nearly 25 trees have already been removed under the municipal commissioner’s orders but for the rest, the Tree Authority’s permission is necessary. The trees need to be removed as trenching work cannot be undertaken without doing so. Even if the trees are not cut, they will be prone to falling.
“We tried to avoid removing these trees but their roots are bound to be affected, making them a hazard. Because of the pending decision, work has slowed down. It doesn’t seem likely to be completed,” said a Storm Water Drain Department official.
The proposal to remove these trees has been stuck for months now. The Hindu had reported in October that the HC had restrained the Tree Authority (TA) from giving any more permissions till it finds independent experts. But this has put the BMC in a fix, as there are no such experts -- who by law need to be registered with the Social Forestry Department -- available. The corporation then decided to nominate experts who are not registered but fit the other criteria. This nomination too requires the authority’s permission.
“We had placed a proposal to nominate experts to the TA almost a month ago but it was not taken up for discussion in the last meeting. We will now place it again in the next meeting. With their assent, we will invite applications for these nominated members. Only after we get these experts on board can we appeal to the court to allow TA to take decisions,” said Dr. Kishore Kshirsagar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Gardens).
Meanwhile, work on the Chivda Gully drain is likely to be completed before the monsoon whereas work on the S.S. Rao road stretch will be complete next year, as planned.
