Mumbai: 1,138 trees fall in 2 months, number likely to grow

Raising concern over the issue, environmentalists like Stalin D, an activist with NGO Vanashakti, said more trees would continue to fall unless the civic body takes corrective measures at the earliest.

“In the current scenario, there is no soil around the roots of the trees along the road and the concrete roads and pavements do not allow water to seep into the soil. The trees are not getting the nourishment they require and are thus weakening and falling,” he said.

He added that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s garden department has one size of barricading the tree roots. “Every tree has a different requirement based on the depth and width of the roots. But the civic body adheres to the ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy,” he said. In order to address the issue, Stalin said the garden department has to restore the base of all the trees in the city.

“The civic body has to start using porous concrete to ensure that water is able to seep through the soil. Trees on the roads help in controlling the temperature and maintain an ecological balance. They cannot be shifted elsewhere and thus have to be cared for in the right way,” he said.

Last month, a 50-year-old raintree along the footpath in Goregaon collapsed on two cars and crushed a 45-year-old man to death. The civic officials later said the continuous heavy rainfall had loosened the soil around the roots which led to the half-a-century-old tree to fall.

Other activists like Debi Goenka from the Conservation Action Trust pointed out that prolonged waterlogging caused by the heavy and windy rains this year is also one of the reasons for the trees to collapse. “Every time, the civic officials dig up a road to lay down utilities like gas pipelines and cables, the roots are also spliced which weakens the support. Apart from the limited nutrition in the soil, the constant waterlogging will cause anything organic to start rotting,” he said.

Botanists pointed out that random and improper pruning of trees also contributes to the trees which are already weak in the roots due to lack of nutrition and often infection.

“The civic body needs to involve a horticulturist to ensure that pruning is done in a scientific manner after studying the architecture of the tree. Currently, the work is given out on a contractual basis and the workers cut branches along the road which puts all the weight on the other side. Naturally, on a windy day, such trees will fall,” said Nitish Joshi, an associate professor of Botany at Rizvi College.

Despite several attempts, Pravin Pardeshi, superintendent of the garden department could not be reached for a comment.