Trees felled for development,but replacements fall short

According to the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Preservation of Trees Act,two trees must be planted for every tree cut or the uprooted tree must be transplanted. This means that for the approximately 15,000 trees cut for development,the developers and plot owners should have planted around 30,000. However,only 5,604 trees have been planted from 2008 to 2010 with experts estimating not more than 5,000 from 2010 to 2011.

Trees were cut to make way for Navi Mumbai airport,the Metro railway project,flyover bridges developed by MMRDA and MSRDC,railway tracks,internal development by MIDC and MbPT,MSEB sub-station and projects by BARC,MTNL,the state government,IIT Bombay,MHADA,TATA and Reliance,besides for construction of buildings.

The BMC,on its part,planted 22,037 trees in the same period,which is roughly double the trees the civic body felled for obstructing traffic. But if compensation for dead and collapsed trees is to be included,the numbers go down. “If around 26,000 trees have been cut,at least 52,000 trees should have been planted according to the Act,” said Dr Nilesh Baxi,nominated member,TA.

The pressing problem,feel the greens,is that a thorough inspection of the developed site is not done while handing over the occupation certificate. “The TA and garden department must ensure that the requisite numbers of trees are planted by the developer,” said Baxi.

Another issue is maintenance of trees. As per the Tree Act,the developer has to pay a deposit of Rs 2,000 when cutting a tree,which is refunded if the trees he plants in place of the felled tree are growing satisfactorily. “However,developers don’t claim this deposit,which means the trees are not maintained,” Baxi added.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Gardens) Suhas Karvande said they are trying their best. “We strictly ensure that we inspect a site before giving the occupation certificate,but the gap occurs because trees may be cut in say 2011 but planted in 2013 on completion of the project. If not,we seize the deposit,” he said. “We have planted around 19,000 trees between June and September this year alone,” he added.

“Even if you consider the existing trees,they are not nurtured and taken care of properly as the TA is understaffed and lacks expertise,” said Niranjan Shetty,another nominated member.