Tista Karmakar, Mumbai Uncensored, 28th July 2022:
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been reported to send out notices to 9,000 housing societies in Mumbai to either trim or cut dangerously extended trees as pre-monsoon measures.
According to the notice, the BMC has stated that almost 8,300 societies trimmed trees on their premises by July 13 although 700 more societies were not able to cut their dangerously positioned trees. The report says that so far almost 356 trees and 514 branches have been cut in the last 43 days in association with the municipality.
However, several environmentalists claim amid the effort that the trees which are being trimmed can have concerningly weakened roots. The efforts are taken by the municipality corporation and civic body in order to avoid further damage during heavy Mumbai rainfall. However, they also stated that trees that are situated in the private properties are on to the owners to cut or trim as the pre-monsoon practice and the BMC has already issued notice to those owners who continue to have trees in a dangerous position. According to the BMC, there are approximately 15.5 lakh trees on the private premises.
The BMC has also sent 9,000 notices to trim 1,50,000 trees on roads and remove 523 dead trees at the same time before the monsoon season.
The garden superintendent Jitendra Pardeshi has initiated a workshop for their staff to teach scientific techniques to trim the trees. He has also urged the citizens not to take shelter under a tree during incessant rainfall to avoid any further accidents.
