Agreeing that the BMC had received several complaints pertaining to improper tree trimming exercise, Kshirsagar said that they were positive that by May tree trimmings in Mumbai will be carried out as per the SOP.
After facing continuous flak for unscientific tree trimming, BMC has roped in an arborist and has decided to prepare a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which will be followed for tree trimming across Mumbai.
It was after four people lost their lives to incidents of tree falling last year that Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had held a review meeting on March 3, and instructed his staff that necessary steps be taken to ensure that tree pruning was carried out scientifically. Post this, a special meeting was chaired by Dr Kishor Kshirsagar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC), Gardens, along with the garden department, to discuss in detail the methodology and steps that would be followed this year to ensure that pruning is carried out properly.
Speaking to DNA, Kshirsagar said that BMC is consulting a well-known arboriculturist Vaibhav Raje and the work on preparing a detailed SOP has been initiated. "The SOP will help provide a step-by-step guideline to be followed for everything — be it safety and security of staff, equipments needed and most importantly the ways to carry out pruning of trees in a scientific manner so that the balance of the tree is not lost," he said.
Agreeing that the BMC had received several complaints pertaining to improper tree trimming exercise, Kshirsagar said that they were positive that by May tree trimmings in Mumbai will be carried out as per the SOP.
A senior official from the garden department said that till date every ward follows their own methodology for tree trimmings, and it's true that most of the time, contractors to save time end up chopping huge branches, which impact the balance of the trees and make them prone to falling during monsoon and hence an SOP will play an important role. "Once this is ready, there will be more checks in place and a proper system of carrying out the work. It's true that the top officials are serious about the matter, given the fact that there have been four deaths last year, and also because the High Court is hearing cases on tree cutting," said the official.
Meanwhile, a green activist said that the move has only exposed the BMC. It shows that they had no systematic methodology for tree trimming and it was not surprising that the civic body, all this while, had been doing a scientific task arbitrarily and they could only hope that the SOP would bring about a much needed change in not only attitude, but also approach towards trees.
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