Tree pruning goes slow, civic body blames law

Winter has arrived but this year, residents of Delhi are not being able to soak up the morning sun as trees have blocked the sunlight.

Winter has arrived but this year, residents of Delhi are not being able to soak up the morning sun as trees have blocked the sunlight.

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Every year, during this time, trees are pruned by the civic bodies to flood parks and colonies with sunlight, but this exercise has hit a hurdle with the municipal corporations claiming that the forest department of the Delhi government has made the process cumbersome.

For the pruning of big trees, the corporations have to take written permission from the forest department, officials of which first physically inspects the trees. Since, the corporation has to prune thousands of trees located in its parks and colonies, getting permission has become a troublesome and long process.

"The rule existed earlier too but it was not being implemented strictly," said a senior official of South Corporation.
Councillors at a recent South Corporation House meeting told the mayor how the Resident Welfare Associations (RWA's) of their wards have been complaining about the lack of pruning this year.

Nutan Kocher, councillor from Hauz Rani, said some RWAs had visited her for pruning but when she called up the horticulture department office, the officials said that they could not do the job.

Rajiv Kakria, president of Greater Kailash RWA said: "Some branches are tangling with the electrical lines or blocking traffic signals."