Mumbai : After vehement opposition from the members of BMC’s tree authority 700 trees have been saved from the axe. There were two separate proposals to cut down 246 trees as well as transplant the remaining in the area of Mulund. Amid several proposals that were passed either for tree cutting or transplantation, these two proposals that outraged committee members were made by a private body, Oberoi Builders, that asked permission to cut the trees for redevelopment of the area.
Leader of the House Trushna Vishwasrao said, “We had to save so many trees from being axed, that too for private development purposes.”
Moreover, apart from cutting down trees, members of the committee also objected to tree transplantation. They argued that transplanted trees never survive. Many times they are uprooted carelessly and not sown again deep enough into the soil.
Ramesh Korgaonkar, Shiv Sena corporator, said “The survival rate of these transplanted trees is very low and nobody goes back after a few years to check whether transplanted trees have survived or not.” He added that the other proposals passed were about smaller number of trees, for redevelopment projects taken up by the civic body itself for social purposes.
Devendra Amberkar, Leader of Opposition in the BMC, said, “We have decided to conduct site visits of these two areas and come up with a solution other than cutting the trees.”
