Time again, it has been alleged that the Tree Authority has shifted its goalposts to become a panel that only works to clear proposals for cutting and felling of trees in the city.
If rapidly rising air pollution and fast-depleting green cover of Mumbai is a concern, the bigger worry of environmentalists is the authorities' lack of plans to tackle the challenges.
To improve the protection of trees in Mumbai, experts say, the attitude of the Tree Authority, the apex body for tree-related decisions, must change. "It will happen only once the committee is represented by a substantial number of tree experts," said an environmentalist.
Also Read: Mumbai misses trunk call
Time again, it has been alleged that the Tree Authority has shifted its goalposts to become a panel that only works to clear proposals for cutting and felling of trees in the city.
"For BMC, the Tree Authority is a tree-cutting authority and what proves it is the fact that when it was constituted in 2017, it had only corporators and not even a single tree expert till we went to the Bombay High Court and there was an order on appointing experts," said Zoru Bhatena who has been fighting a legal battle to stop indiscriminate chopping of trees.
After being rapped by the HC, the civic body that has 14 corporators on the Tree Authority appointed four expert members. "We do not agree to it as the HC clearly mentioned that BMC should have equal numbers of nominated expert members and corporators in the Tree Authority," said Bhatena.
The biggest grouse of the activists is that corporators, who have no scientific or botanical knowledge to clear proposals for removal or transplantation of trees, have become part of the Authority.
"They will not think or get into the nitty-gritty of whether the removal of certain trees is necessary. They will simply pass proposals. However, if there are experts in equal numbers, they will be able to hold such one-sided decisions and save trees wherever required," said another activist.
Amid the debate over the number of experts on Tree Authority, Bhatena pointed to a recent meeting with Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi what he called a positive development. "We were really glad to see how he patiently heard us and was keen on saving the city's green cover. The meeting has made us confident that the new commissioner, a known nature lover, will certainly infuse the much-required zeal into the Tree Authority."
Also Read: 'Mumbai needs money, machine and experts keep its trees healthy'
Another expert, recently nominated on Tree Authority, said it was time the Tree Authority metamorphosed into a think tank that comes up with action plans of not only saving the existing trees, but also devises strategies to increase Mumbai's green cover. "It also needs to begin working ward-wise and develop plans to locate land areas and study roads where plantations can be carried out, as on the one hand, the city is losing trees, on the other, there are hardly any compensatory plantations happening except for areas like Aarey Colony."
Also Read: Mumbai: Tussle over trees
City Fails Trees
- Insufficient space for roots which restricts flow of nutrition. With poor grip, they can’t withstand strong winds and heavy rains
- BMC distributes saplings to societies, but doesn’t maintain them
- Many societies can’t afford to trim trees, want the BMC to reduce the charges
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"For BMC, the Tree Authority is a tree-cutting authority and what proves it is the fact that when it was constituted in 2017, it had only corporators and not even a single tree expert till we went to the Bombay High Court and there was an order on appointing experts," said Zoru Bhatena who has been fighting a legal battle to stop indiscriminate chopping of trees.
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