More than 12,000 trees de-concretised, says BMC

Mumbai: More than 12,000 trees in Mumbai were de-concretised or freed from their cement-concrete base between 2017 and 2018, according to the environment status report by the BMC. With increased incidents of tree fall over the past two years, environmentalists have raised concerns over construction at the base of trees, which may lead to abrupt tree fall.

As per the BMC report, the civic body has removed concrete and cement from the base of 12,789 trees in 2017 and 2018. The report also highlights that 12,497 trees have been planted along municipal roads and on open spaces in the same period.

“If the BMC has removed the concrete base of these many trees, it is good, but there are still lakhs of trees having a cemented base in Mumbai. Around Rs 150 crore has been allocated to removing the concrete base of lakhs of trees for three years. Still, many trees are choking under the concretised base,” said Zoru Bhathena, Mumbai-based tree activist.

The report also mentioned that trimming of the branches of 78,990 trees was carried out to balance them. Around 844 dead and dangerous trees were removed as well. In 2017-2018, around 2,975,283 trees across 24 wards were recorded.