Barely four days of early monsoon showers and over 100 trees in the city have already fallen, leading activists to blame BMC officials’ lethargy, lack of resident participation, and rampant unscientific tree plantation programmes for the loss of green cover.
Most trees that fell had concretised bases, confirmed sources. With another 19 lakh-odd trees with concretised bases in the city and heavier rainfall of the season yet to come, loss of green cover is expected to worsen during the monsoon season.
In an order dated October 16, 2015, the western bench of NGT had asked BMC to conduct a survey of all trees, particularly those with roots embedded in roads and footpaths and the depth of these roots using scientific methods with help from the horticulture department. BMC, in an affidavit, had mentioned that out of a total 19 lakh trees, 11, 790 had been de-concretised.
Noted environmentalist Rishi Agarwal pointed out that along with the lack of a proper tree policy, the lack of citizen participation was also a cause for concern. “With about 2000km of road network, it is the residents who can play a vital role in saving trees and de-concretising their bases. If they follow up with the local BMC horticulture officials and ensure that work is done, de-concretisation of 19 lakh trees can be done in no time,” he said.
Agarwal added that rampant plantation drives that lacked a scientific approach worked against conservation efforts. “Citizens or civic authorities need to focus on planting indigenous trees and follow horticultural science before doing so rather than competing with each other in terms of planting as many trees as possible. With 15-20 events heavy spells still left during the monsoon period, a lot needs to be done to try and sustain existing trees rather than planting new ones,” he added.
As the southwest monsoon hit the city on Monday, pre-monsoon showers started around 48 hours before actual onset. And though the city since June 1 witnessed 225mm and 182mm rainfall at Colaba and Santacruz observatories, respectively, weather experts noted that heavier rainfall of the season is yet to come. On the other hand, the BMC’s disaster management cell confirmed that since Sunday, more than 100 trees had fallen across the city, about 80 per cent of which had concretised bases.
