BMC garden dept’s shrinking budget, dubious tree-maintenance tenders under scrutiny

The allocation, meant to cover “routine maintenance of gardens and recreational spaces, plantation drives, landscaping and beautification of public areas, upkeep of traffic islands and medians, development of new gardens” and so on, marks the latest in a series of budget cuts for the department responsible for maintaining Mumbai’s parks, gardens and trees.

MUMBAI: The BMC’s garden department has seen its budget shrink steadily over the past few years even as the city grapples with recurring tree-fall incidents and growing concerns about the quality of tree maintenance.

BMC garden dept’s shrinking budget, dubious tree-maintenance tenders under scrutiny

For 2026-27, the civic body has earmarked ₹200.52 crore for the department, down from ₹220.12 crore in the previous year. The allocation, meant to cover “routine maintenance of gardens and recreational spaces, plantation drives, landscaping and beautification of public areas, upkeep of traffic islands and medians, development of new gardens” and so on, marks the latest in a series of budget cuts for the department responsible for maintaining Mumbai’s parks, gardens and trees.

The downward trend has been evident for several years. The garden department received ₹252.80 crore in the 2024-25 budget, while 2021-22 witnessed one of the steepest cuts, when the allocation for new parks and gardens, at around ₹126 crore, was over 50 per cent less than the previous year.

The garden department is entrusted with maintaining 1,175 public open spaces (325 gardens, 369 playgrounds, 480 recreation grounds and a crafts village, Shilpgram) besides overseeing tree conservation, urban forestry and horticultural works across Mumbai.

The shrinking budget assumes significance at a time when the department is facing intense scrutiny following a spate of tree-fall incidents this monsoon, including fatal accidents. The concerns have been compounded by the BMC’s contracting practices. As reported by HT last Saturday, the civic body awarded a ₹46-crore tree maintenance contract to contractors primarily engaged in construction work after accepting bids that were around 45 per cent below the estimated cost.

“The tender raised questions on whether specialised arboriculture work was being entrusted to agencies without adequate expertise and whether such steep discounts could compromise the quality of pruning, tree inspections and risk assessments,” said Zameer Qureshi, a local corporator from M East ward.

Amey Ghole, Shiv Sena leader in the BMC said it was high time the civic body invested more money in its garden department. “It is also imperative that we take tree audits as seriously as we do building structural audits,” he said. “All trees in the city are registered with us and we should do annual audits and send a precautionary notice to all stakeholders as a pre-monsoon measure. Secondly, the tree-trimming fee in society premises should be charged while collecting property taxes. That way the garden department will not be able to levy steep charges and facilitate the contractor to collect part of it in cash.”

The recent tree-fall incidents which have claimed four lives since May, have brought safety concerns back into focus, with experts and activists questioning whether Mumbai’s trees are receiving scientific maintenance and whether the city’s procurement policies prioritise cost savings over public safety.