Shibu Thomas
The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the BMC to spell out its policy to increase the green cover in Mumbai city . Expressing concern over the issue of depleting tree cover raised in a public interest litigation, a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Amjad Sayed sought to know if the ongoing process of conducting a tree census was being done in a scientific manner.The HC has also sought to know details of land in the city that is reserved for gardens in the existing and draft development plan and if such gardens have been developed.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by city resident Zoru Bhathena over the death of rain trees in the city and cutting of trees. “Unless you conduct atree census in a proper scientific manner with the help of experts, how will you know the situation,“ asked the jud ges. The HC said it will have to examine the manner in which BMC conducts the tree census. Advocate Joaquim Reis and advocate Trupti Puranik, representing BMC, said that the tree census was presently being carried out by an expert agency . As per figures released by BMC, the number of trees in the city counted so far stood at 24lakh -about 5lakh more than the 19 lakh as per the 2008 census. In response to the PIL about death of rain trees, BMC said that around 2,104 rain trees in the city were infected by mealy bugs since 2010, and over 1,108 such trees had died. It said it had planted about 1,546 new trees in place of the dead trees. The petitioner’s counsel, Kainaz Irani, however disputed this. “The corporations plant young saplings which do not survive.Many are planted in inhospitable environments,“ said advocate Irani, adding that the BMC had not complied with the court orders to plant three trees in place of one dead rain tree. The HC said that it would focus on two issues -preservation of existing trees and the census of trees so that they can be protected. The second will be about increasing the green cover, by planting more trees. The HC admitted the petition and scheduled it for hearing on July 27.
TIMES VIEW :
The city’s green cover deserves to be preserved. Citizens have already started criticizing authorities for letting developers turn Mumbai into a concrete jungle. Mumbai has witnessed major loss of green cover in the last few years with several rain trees being infected by mealybugs. The civic body had then tried chemical measures as well as mechanical ones such as trimming of infected branches to save infected trees, but out of around 500 affected trees, they, on an average, claimed to have treated only 272.
