129 trees to be cut or replanted for Turbhe flyover

Turbhe

The Tree department of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has proposed to remove a total of 129 trees planted alongside the road opposite Turbhe railway station on Thane Belapur Road. The proposal to cut the trees is to facilitate the commencement of the long pending project of the engineering department to construct a flyover for pedestrians to cross over from Turbhe railway station.

Presently, in absence of the flyover, residents are forced to risk their lives while crossing after alighting at the railway station. As a result, there have been a number of accidents caused due to jaywalking. As per the traffic department, at least 15 have lost their lives while trying to cross the road.

A notice detailing the number of trees to be cut has been put up and citizens are required to give in their suggestions and objections within the next 7 days. “For the project to commence it was essential to work out the steps to be taken to transplant the trees existing on the stretch. Of the total 129 trees, 125 trees will be replanted whereas 4 of the trees will have to be removed,” said a senior official from the tree department.

The notification about tree cutting is stated by officials to be put up after a detailed survey. The kind of trees likely to be affected includes 98 palm trees, six badam tees, four neem treets, and three peepal trees in addition to other indigenous plants. “Almost all of them are to be replanted at various other green zones of the city, but nevertheless citizens are required to give their feedback within the next 7 days. The suggestions or objections will be taken into consideration before proceeding further,” said the official.

Prior to this, a similar decision was made to cut 194 odd trees for construction of a flyover at Juinagar railway crossing. At Turbhe, the civic administration will be constructing a 560 meter flyover which is estimated to cost over ₹30 crore. City engineer, NMMC, Sanjay Desai said the number of trees actually to be cut could be far less. “These trees were planted by NMMC as part of the beautification and most of them are merely small saplings. Technically only 25-odd full grown trees are likely to be affected and of these most will be replanted. The project is extremely important as over the past 10 years more than 17 have lost their lives while crossing the road on this busy stretch,” he said.

The flyover work is expected to be completed within the next nine months.