CONCRETISATION KILLS TREES

Environmentalists, as well as the Tree Authority of BMC, have warned that the base of the trees should not be concretized as it weakens the trees, resulting in tree-falls! Shockingly, in Mulund, while doing the recent road work BMC contractors’ lazy workers have not taken suitable care. Hence, due to their negligence, many trees are under threat!!! Nevertheless, BMC is serious in saving trees. To teach the negligent contractors a lesson, BMC will penalise contractors with double the penalty!

According to reports, both BMC and the Garden Department have joined hands to save trees. Hence, from now onwards, a team will be appointed in each ward whose primary duty would be to keep a hawk’s eye on the base of trees in their ward. They would see to it that no tree base is concretized and there is sufficient space and soil around the base of the tree for its growth.

Informing about the new policy, a BMC officer said, “BMC and Garden Department have decided to be strict. The role of the new team will be to be vigilant and check the grievances of the citizens regarding bases of trees in their Wards. If any citizen brings a complaint regarding the concretization of a tree base, then the contractor would be penalized. For a single tree, the contractor will have to pay a fine of Rs. 5000/-!”

It may be noted earlier the penalty was Rs. 2500/- but after people’s regular complaints, BMC has doubled the penalty to Rs. 5000/-

In Mulund, particularly in Mulund East, there are maximum trees close to the roads. The new team will begin inspection of all the trees and check if they have enough space and soil around their base or check if the base is concretized.

Contractors’ negligence
According to the BMC Tree Authority law, a distance of 1 metre from the road and the tree edge must be maintained by road repair contractors. An officer from the T-Ward Garden Department told Home Times, “As per my observation, in Mulund, the contractors have not maintained the mandatory one-metre distance between the road and tree edge. Also, the bases of many trees have been concretized.” He added, “We would do a detailed survey.”

It may be noted that the Road Department has also been ordered to remove the concretization and make the tree bases as natural they were earlier.”