384 trees to go in Malabar Hill reservoir reconstruction

A recent tree survey conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) garden department has revealed that a total of 384 trees will have to go to pave the way for the construction of a tank behind Hanging Garden, one of Mumbai’s iconic tourist sites

Mumbai: A recent tree survey conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) garden department has revealed that a total of 384 trees will have to go to pave the way for the construction of a tank behind Hanging Garden, one of Mumbai’s iconic tourist sites.

Mumbai, India - February 28, 2023: Plot at Malabar Hill, next to Hanging Gardens, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The tank is the first phase of the BMC’s ambitious plan to reconstruct the 140-year-old reservoir at Malabar Hill, one of the first artificial reservoirs built to meet the island city’s water requirements. A civic official from the water supply department said that a temporary 90-million-litre tank would be constructed on the plot in order to give uninterrupted water supply to South Bombay when the work on the Malabar Hill reservoir was on.

Of the 384 trees earmarked on the plot, 188 will be transplanted. The plot has a huge variety of trees, among them jackfruit, junglee badam, mango, akash neem, kailashpati, jamoon, chafa, Ashoka, neem, coconut, kadipatta, amla, chikoo, reetha and many more. Botanists have surveyed the garden and estimated where a few Ashoka, jackfruit and shevga trees can be retained, depending on their size. “Some Ashoka trees will be cut and some transplanted,” said a civic official on condition of anonymity. “If we can save the peripheral wall, we can even save 100 trees, depending on site constraints.”

According to a garden department rule, for every tree that is axed, four have to be planted in its place. The BMC has, as of now, identified two places where the trees can be transplanted/replaced with new trees. One of these places is the Bhandup Complex site on a BMC plot, where a water treatment plant stands; the other is the Tower of Silence at Doongerwadi, depending on the Bombay Parsi Punchayet getting approval from all its trustees.

The civic official explained that since the Malabar Hill reservoir was 140 years old, there was no option but to reconstruct it. “The structural audit notes that it is so dilapidated that even a slight push will make it collapse,” he said. “We cannot retrofit or repair it, as it was constructed in 1885, an arch-type structure without columns and beams. If even one arch is disturbed, the entire reservoir will collapse.”

The work on the new tank is expected to take one or two years. After this, the BMC will partially shut down Hanging Garden to continue with its rebuilding of the Malabar Hill reservoir, which is located right below the garden. At no point will the garden be entirely shut down.

Vasant Gaikwad, chief engineer in the water supply department said, “After the permissions to cut the trees are in hand, work on the construction of the new tank will begin. Without this new tank, the reservoir cannot be isolated and it will take one or two years to construct this tank. The work will be done in phases for the next seven years.”

The deadline for reconstruction of Malabar Hill reservoir project is 2029 end.