After the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s Tree Authority submitted that choking of trees by concretisation would be addressed on a war footing to address concerns of petitioner aggrieved by illegal concretisation around the trunk of 38 trees in Deonar area, the Bombay High Court asked the authorities to continue such an exercise 'as fast as possible.'A vacation bench of Justices Nitin R Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan passed an order on May 30 on a plea by one Irfan Ahmed Khan, a resident of Govandi- Deonar, who claimed that illegal concretisation around trees obstructed water percolation in root of two trees, shrivelling them up and bringing them on the verge of dying. Advocate Altaf Khan, appearing for the petitioner, claimed that the tree authority of BMC also did not respond to complaints related to alleged felling and theft of trees by an educational institute in the vicinity. On May 29, the respondent authorities submitted that the choking of the trees by the concretization would be addressed on a war footing and committed that the petitioner could also provide his inputs and assistance in assessing the damage already inflicted. The court also said necessary police protection be provided by the local police station for authorities to access the trees, allegedly curtailed by the educational institute Shree Chhatrapati Shivaji Shikshan Sanstha and take action. The lawyers, on instructions from officials, submitted that the two trees in question are considered to have already died. Khan requested that designated officers with expertise in trees from respective wards should attend the issue and take action in right earnest. The authorities responded that it was 'a time consuming exercise' as much of the concrete is reinforced cement concrete, and owing to stipulations under Environmental Law, such concrete cannot be broken with tools and that the same has to be broken by hand."We direct that such exercise may continue as fast as possible," the bench noted in its order.The petitioner sought direction to authorities to engage arborists to determine whether the two trees concerned, along with an unnumbered tree, are dead beyond redemption or they can be salvaged. In response, the court asked the authorities to deal with the suggestions of the petitioner and formulate an empirically-backed report to demonstrate whether the trees are indeed incapable of being salvaged."Should it be determined that they can be salvaged, we trust the municipal authorities will work on the same in parallel (even while the concrete and the debris are being removed from the other trees)," said the court even as it posted the matter for further hearing to June 20.
