Locals check 100 trees with botanist

Mumbai: In the backdrop of consecutive tree-falling incidents in the city, residents near Cooperage Garden, along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) tree officer inspected around 100 trees in a 300-metre stretch in the area. The team, joined by an independent botanist, observed that around 14 trees in the area need tree bed enlargement. After the recent tree fall incident in Chembur, which led to the demise of a 40-year-old woman, residents had asked the BMC garden department to inspect the health of trees in the area.

Two Gulmohar trees were found to be unhealthy and two rain trees were affected by the mealy bug parasite. Experts suggested that more systematic trimming needs to be done for unhealthy trees. Amid the tree walk at the Maharshi Karve Road, some of the trees were also seen with uneven trimming, which highlighted the need for more aware tree pruning and trimming contractors on the field. “Uneven trimming could lead to imbalance at the top of the trees or a tree could die due to reckless cutting of branches. In countries like Singapore and China, light trimming of small branches from top to down is carried out consistently with a view to improve balance gradually. The contractors for tree cutting, collecting and selling wood should be different so that there is no conflict of interest,” said Ruchir Bansal, a local.

The group, which also spotted some leaning trees such as subabul and mango trees,  also asserted that few trees were tied with cable wires, which could lead to abrupt falling of tree branches. The A ward Corporator, Harshita Narvekar, who was also present at the tree walk, acknowledged the need of enlargement of tree bed to prevent it from suffocating. She said, “I will forward the suggestion provided by the residents and experts. Through the tree walk, we realised that a horticulturist should also be present with the contractors so that the tree is trimmed or pruned systematically.”