120 tree fall incidents this monsoon compared to 512 last year, says Navi Mumbai civic body

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has claimed that the tree fall incidents this monsoon between June and September have decreased by more than 76% compared to the same period last year

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has claimed that the tree fall incidents this monsoon have decreased by more than 76% compared to the previous year.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation reported 120 tree fall incidents in the city this monsoon compared to 512 in 2020. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

According to the NMMC’s disaster management cell, between June and September this year, there were only 120 tree falling cases as opposed to 512 registered in the corresponding period last year.

Last year, a man died after a tree fell on him in Airoli. However, no such incident was reported this year. Only four vehicles were damaged after a tree fell on them in Vashi in July.

Jaydeep Pawar, deputy municipal commissioner of NMMC (tree authority and garden department), said that the number of tree-falling cases is less this year as there were no cyclones in the four months of monsoon.

“There were multiple cyclones between June and September last year and hence as many as 512 trees fell down. But there was no cyclone in the corresponding time this year. If you see, we lost 153 trees during Cyclone Tauktae this year too. But that was in May, much before the onset of the monsoon.”

A survey conducted in 2017 revealed that there were 8,57,295 trees in Navi Mumbai. It also revealed that there were 1,88,000 Subabul trees in the city, the largest species found here.

Dr. V Shubhalaxmi, an environmentalist and founder of iNaturewatch Foundation, Kharghar, said, “Normally, the shallow-rooted trees such as gulmohar and rain tree fall during monsoon. When the authorities dig up the soil near such trees for different civic works around that time, their roots lose grip and their chances of falling increase. This year, we have observed that there was not much digging work in the jurisdiction of NMMC and that could be a reason why the number of tree-falling cases is less this year. We also agree that had there been more cyclones during the four months of monsoon, more trees would have fallen.”