1,000 trees may have to make way for revamp projects in Mumbai

Even as the furore over chopping of trees in Aarey for the Metro 3 continues, the civic tree authority has been flooded with proposals for transplanting and cutting of trees —about 1000.

In its meeting on Tuesday, the tree authority will decide on proposals to cut 239 trees and transplant 797, which are coming in the way of various projects.

The agenda of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s ( BMC) t ree panel mentions 41 proposals that require chopping or shifting of trees.

The proposal to transplant trees is often opposed by environmentalists, who point out their poor rate of survival. Most of these plans are in western suburbs, such as Kandivli, Borivli, Bandra, Goregaon and Andheri.

“The proposals are not of a particular area, but across the city, and will be tabled in front of the tree authority on Tuesday,” said Vijay Hire, Tree officer of BMC.

For a redevelopment project in the S ward (Bhandup area) of the BMC, about 594 trees are coming in the way, of which 272 have to be transplanted and 38 need to be chopped.

“While permission to chop trees is given, the BMC often does not check if they are transplanted or not. The redevelopment of buildings is causing serious issues to the environment and there needs to be a control on tree chopping proposals,” said Devendra Amberkar Opposition leader at BMC.

Rishi Agarwal, environmentalist, said: “The issue of redevelopment cannot be ignored, and hence the BMC should evolve a new strategy to safeguard environmental concerns.”