Mumbai coastal road: Civic body authority gives nod to cut 41 trees for project

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s tree authority (TA) on Friday approved a proposal to cut 41 trees for the construction of the 9-km coastal road between

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s tree authority (TA) on Friday approved a proposal to cut 41 trees for the construction of the 9-km coastal road between Princess Street Flyover and Worli. The authority has also given its nod to transplant 322 trees for the project. The proposals of 538 trees were presented before the TA for the coastal road project on Friday. Of these, the authority directed that 165 trees be kept untouched and 82 new trees be planted.

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The authority received 13 proposals entailing 1,006 trees which would be affected owing to projects such as the coastal road and Metro construction. Of these, the TA directed that 540 can be transplanted, 134 need to be planted, 67 can cut and 399 trees need to be kept untouched. However, of the 13 proposals, six were not taken for discussion.

The BMC had last year in February said that around 600 trees would be affected for the construction of its ambitious coastal road project, which is proposed to link Marine Drive to the southern end of Bandra-Worli sea link. Of these, 140 trees are proposed to be cut, while 460 are to be transplanted.

Between Princess Street Flyover and Priyadarshani Park, 31 trees are proposed to be cut, while 127 other are to be transplanted. Between Bhulabhai Desai Road and Tata Garden, BMC proposed to cut 61 trees and transplant 79 more. The civic body said from Haji Ali to Lotus junction at Lala Lajpatrai Road, 38 trees are proposed to be cut and 49 to be transplanted, while at Worli Seaface, 10 trees are to be cut and 205 to be transplanted.

On Friday out of the total four proposals for coastal road, only two were taken for discussion.

Abhijit Samant, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator and TA member, said, “We have requested the administration to hold a physical meeting of the tree authority instead of a video-conferencing to ensure clear communication. Today also, there was a lot of disturbance [during the meeting] and when we raised the point to improve the quality of transplantation. Transplanted trees end up dying a while later as there is no proper care taken.”