Mumbai’s Worli sea face gets 66 more date palm trees

While some citizens said the palms would be an aesthetic addition, urban ecologists said the date palm has no benefits.

After an estimated 85% of date palms planted last year along Worli sea face survived, the civic body has planted 66 more along the promenade.

Date palm trees dotting the Worli sea face. (HT Photo)

While some citizens said the palms would be an aesthetic addition, urban ecologists said the date palm has no benefits. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC ‘s) garden department said they transplanted the 10-foot trees from Tuesday night.

“Apart from a few trees near Worli dairy, all 20 date palms along the Worli promenade survived last year. This prompted us to plant more for their aesthetic beauty and to increase green cover,” said Amol Vasaikar, assistant superintendent, BMC garden department.

The trees were planted through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. “Various corporates met us and were willing to help us beautify Worli. They carried out the transplantation and bore the costs,” said Vasaikar.

HT first reported in August 2015 that Samudraphal trees (barringtonia racemosa) planted on the walking track along the promenade started dying mysteriously. In 2016, 50 trees either died or dried up which prompted BMC to switch to date palms. Vasaikar said the spray of salt water from the sea was also a reason why the Samudraphal trees died.