Environmentalists oppose tree transplant proposal

The civic body’s decision to transplant big trees from Andhra Pradesh to the city is being opposed by environmentalist groups. The activists are unhappy with the decision of bringing trees from another state, instead of buying trees from nurseries in the state.

The civic body’s decision to transplant big trees from Andhra Pradesh to the city is being opposed by environmentalist groups. The activists are unhappy with the decision of bringing trees from another state, instead of buying trees from nurseries in the state.

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“What is the need to bring trees from outside when we have so many nurseries in our state,” said Nilesh Baxi, a tree authority member.

On November 27, additional municipal commissioner RA Rajeev put forth a proposal for increasing the number of trees in Mumbai: “Today’s generation is very restless and wants quick results so rather than waiting for a sapling to grow into a tree, we have decided to plant big trees in different parts of the city.”

The proposal states that in the first phase, 100 big trees measuring between 5 and 8 feet will be brought from Andhra Pradesh to Mumbai,

A team of civic officials and tree authority members visited Andhra Pradesh on Thursday to study the feasibility of proposal.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Gardens) Chadrashekhar Rokde, told HT from Andhra, “We are visiting the nurseries in Andhra Pradesh and evaluating the proposal. We haven’t decided if we will go ahead with the purchase. A big tree costs between Rs 1,000 and 1,500, but transport costs are very high.”

Rokde added that a similar project had been successfully implemented at Mumbai Airport. However, Nayana Kathpalia, co-convener of CitiSpace, a non-government organisation, pointed out that a tree transplantation project at Marine Drive executed by the BMC had failed.