Tree ambulance service to be offered beyond New Delhi

The Delhi government has decided to ask major land-owning agencies in the Capital such as Delhi Development authority, municipal corporations of Delhi and public works department to start at least one tree ambulance in their jurisdiction. Darpan Singh reports.

The Delhi government has decided to ask major land-owning agencies in the Capital such as Delhi Development authority, municipal corporations of Delhi and public works department to start at least one tree ambulance in their jurisdiction.

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Currently, the New Delhi municipal corporation (NDMC), which covers only 3% of the Capital, has this facility. Members of Delhi's tree authority, set up in 2007 for protection of trees, met on Tuesday and discussed possible modalities to extend the facility.

"Even at a previous meeting of the tree authority, members were informed about the concept of a tree ambulance," said a senior forest department official.

Delhi's chief secretary PK Triapthi is understood to have told officials that the idea of a tree ambulance needs to be extended beyond the NDMC.

Hindustan Times had on October 8, reported that if Delhi wants to keep its green heart ticking, it will need more tree ambulances. The city's only tree ambulance has its hands full, prompting activists to ask the chief secretary to expand the fleet.

Suhas Borker of Green Circle, a civil society initiative which contributed to the launch of this facility in February 2010, said: "Funds can be arranged for more ambulances under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission as assured by the chief minister in 2010," he said.