Soon, Chandigarh will be the first city across the country to have a ‘tree map’, officials confirmed. Not just this, geotagging of all trees in the UT shall also be done by using modern GIS-based technology. This decision was taken in a meeting of senior officials of the Chandigarh Administration and departments of wildlife and forests. A senior officer who attended the meeting, while speaking to The Indian Express said, “It has been directed that work related to preparation of a ‘tree map’ of Chandigarh be expedited by Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh and Engineering Department, Chandigarh within their respective jurisdiction including following information avenue wise (VI-V7) covering all the sectors”. This kind of map will have the main tree species, approximate number of trees and other species which are planted and approximate number of such species, in each avenue. Officials stated that the civic body and the engineering department will submit a draft tree map of Chandigarh, including aforementioned information, during the next meeting of the expert committee for onward study, deliberation and preparation of the futuristic plan of the city. It also has been ordered that not just this enumeration of trees and comprehensive assessment of different parameters of trees including their health status shall also be carried out by the municipal corporation (MC) through Forest Research Institute (FRI) and the same should be expedited and completed at the earliest. The officials observed that this is a very important exercise. “As it will help to ascertain status of trees in the UT and will facilitate to take necessary corrective measures for scientific management of trees, identification of dangerous trees and its replacement with suitable tree species and will further supplement the efforts of MC and engineering department to maintain the symmetry of avenue plantation,” another officer added. “In FRI exercise, geotagging of the trees may also carried out which will facilitate for use of modern technology like GIS in further analysis/study of the data for the scientific management of trees in UT Chandigarh,” the minutes from the meeting specified, adding and further mentioning that “engineering department should also carry out enumeration comprehensive assessment of tree species within their jurisdiction including government and private buildings on the lines of Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh (MCC) to have the complete and uniform information of the trees in the city.” Many healthy trees falling Several healthy trees in the Union Territory are falling, especially during storms. One tree also fell in a private school, killing a child and injuring others. The trees being diseased and no action plan for the same with experts is a major concern. Chandigarh’s tree cover The total geographical area of Chandigarh is 114 sq km and another 25.98 sq km of hilly area, which was earlier acquired for soil conservation works, has been declared as ‘Sukhna Wildlife sanctuary‘. The UT has 47.56 sq km area under forest cover and another 10 sq km is under tree cover. From time to time, various activities are done under an action plan to make the ‘City Beautiful’ greener.
