Mumbai: Citing that there is an urgent need of conserving the greenery of Mumbai, the BMC has embarked on its first-ever exercise to save trees that are uprooted during rains and other natural disasters. After facing flak for unscientific trimming and trees falling every monsoon, the BMC on Tuesday issued a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which will be followed for transplantation of fallen and uprooted trees across Mumbai. According to the data of BMC Tree Authority, a total of 3,469 trees has fallen and uprooted in the last four years from 2017 to 2020 of which 1038 were under BMC owned premises, while 2431 were on private land. Of the total 3469, the maximum number of trees (1360) have fallen in 2020.
The SoP states that it will be mandatory for all departments working on utility services to safeguard the roots of trees while digging. “If a tree falls during monsoon, due to strong winds or any other disaster and inspection and review of such trees will be conducted to identify if these trees can be salvaged. The fallen trees should be transplanted at the same location if possible, if not, then a place near that location should be identified to transplant the tree,” the SoP issued by the Civic tree authority reads.
It further states: “If the uprooted /fallen tree is dead and there are no chances of salvaging it, then another grown tree fallen in some other location can be transplanted in that location. Another tree should be of the same species or of a native species to ensure the survival of the transplanted tree.”
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