Mumbai: BMC says 90% pre-monsoon trimming of trees done

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has claimed they have trimmed 90 per cent of the trees in Mumbai, out of the 1,04,070 marked for the procedure. A total of 89,230 trees have been trimmed so far and notices have been sent to 9,400 housing societies in this regard.

Every year, the city witnesses tree falling and tree branch falling incidents, with a number of people getting killed or injured under falling branches. To avoid these incidents, the BMC's garden department undertakes tree trimming work every year. The BMC appoints contractors to carry out the work and spends Rs 50 crore annually for tree trimming. The civic body also levies charges on societies for the trimming of trees.

As per the BMC, there are 29 lakh trees in Mumbai, out of which 15 lakh trees are in private areas. According to a BMC survey, 1,92,000 are located the roads, of which 1,54,000 trees were surveyed for trimming. Of these, 1,04,000 trees were marked for survey and 89,230 trees have been trimmed till May 31.

Apart of trimming of trees, the BMC's garden department also identifies dangerous bends and trees having cavities in them. Till May 31, the BMC identified 523 curved, bent and cavity-filled trees. Of these, 512 trees were removed.

BMC's garden superintendent Jitendra Pardeshi appealed that every society should inform local ward offices if they find any dangerous bend or trees having cavities in order to avoid untoward incidents. “Sometimes trees between two premises are ignored,” he said.