TMC forms panel to save heritage trees

The Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) tree authority on Tuesday set up a sub-committee to identify and preserve rare and heritage trees in the city.

The Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) tree authority on Tuesday set up a sub-committee to identify and preserve rare and heritage trees in the city.

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This comes months after there was a huge public outcry over the partial destruction of a 300-year-old Banyan tree in Thane by a private developer. Tree lovers had then demanded a heritage committee be set up.

Thane will be one of the first cities in the state to notify trees as ‘heritage’, which will help preserve these trees from being hacked for construction projects.

The city has more than 100 trees which are over a century old, of which 20 to 25 trees can be notified as heritage trees.

An official from the tree authority said, “We have approved the formation of a sub-committee to identify and demarcate trees which are old and rare in the city. The committee includes professors from Thane college and other environmentalists. The committee will have to decide parameters to tag the tree as heritage and rare. These conditions include the area of the crown of the tree, the age of the tree and the rare qualities which makes it unique.”

Officials said this move will help preserve these trees as they cannot be cut for any developmental reasons.