Thane trees to get metal grate support

Mumbai: In order to save trees from choking, trees in public areas of Thane will now have metal grates at their base. The move by the Thane Municipal Corporation comes on the back of an inspection of tree falling incidents in Thane. These grates will give space for the roots to breathe, even in case of road widening.

Following an incident of tree fall in which advocate Kishore Pawar lost his life, Thane-based activist Rohit Joshi filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court, highlighting the poor condition of trees. Later, the TMC formed a committee to look into tree falling incidents, particularly during the monsoon season.

The committee found that most of the trees in Thane had a concrete base, making them more fragile and prone to tree fall. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its 2015 order, directed the BMC to de-concretise the base of trees, leaving them surrounded only by natural soil.

“It was never followed by the TMC, too. The civic body had in March decided to implement it, but it was not done till now. The grates will not only leave space for the trees’ roots to breathe but will also not harm them during road widening,” said Mr Joshi.

As a first step towards de-concretising the trees, TMC last week set up metal tree grates on trees at Bajiprabhu Deshpande road in Naupada.