State tree authority okays felling of 2,075 trees in and around Mumbai

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Tree Authority (MSTA) has given its go ahead for felling 2,075 trees for various developments across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), as per the minutes of its last meeting accessed by Hindustan Times on Thursday

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Tree Authority (MSTA) has given its go ahead for felling 2,075 trees for various developments across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), as per the minutes of its last meeting accessed by Hindustan Times on Thursday. These include 10 heritage trees, of which seven are in suburban Mumbai.

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The seven heritage trees in Mumbai are proposed to be felled for construction of a road-overbridge and road-underbridge on the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road’s ‘N’ Section, in Ghatkopar (W), and in Ghatkopar (E), respectively.

The other developments include construction of the Navi Mumbai coastal road by CIDCO (309 trees), an upcoming low-income housing project in Navi Mumbai, also by CIDCO (96 trees), development of an express highway by the NHAI between Titwala and Nandap (314 trees), construction of a multi-speciality hospital in Bhandup West (141 trees), and setting up of power lines between Kharghar and Vikhroli by Kharghar Vikhroli Transmission Pvt Ltd. (1,205).

The total number of trees at risk, however, is much more. In addition to the 2,075 trees, which will be permanently felled, at least another 1,049 trees have been slotted for transplantation, a practice which has shown poor results in Mumbai. The city has lost at least 21,000 trees in the 11 years between 2010 and 2021, according to BMC data.

A member of the tree authority, who did not wish to be identified, said, “We have considered all the proposals carefully before granting clearances. If carried out by the various project proponents as per the terms of compliance set by us, the compensatory afforestation and translation measures will make up for the loss of green cover.”

In May last year, the MSTA had sanctioned the felling of around 1,500 trees for various projects within Mumbai city and suburbs. Then in July 2022, it granted permission to fell another 1,181 and transplant another 2,226 trees across MMR for various projects, followed by another 891 trees to be felled across MMR in January 2023. Since its inception in March 2022, the authority has given its nod to felling upwards of 5,500 trees in and around Mumbai. This number does not include trees slotted for transplantation.

Zoru Bhatena, a city-based environmentalist, pointed out that the Bombay high court has repeatedly said, “The tree authority is not an authority constituted for the destruction of trees. Its primary objective is to ensure plantation, preservation, and protection of the trees, and enhancement of the tree cover. Sadly, it appears that the MSTA is not fulfilling any of these statutory duties.”