Sunday, May 3, 2015

Tree Census

By conducting a population census, the government enumerates the number of people living in a particular locality or “ward”, of the city, as is bifurcated by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for governance. Presently, MCGM is conducting a “tree census”, which is actually a count of the number of trees in all the 26 wards of the city, comprising the western, eastern and central suburbs. See Mumbai Mirror 02.05.2015, “BMC counts 16L trees, identifies one new species”. According to the MCGM, there are 16,01,514 trees in the 16 wards in which counting has been completed. The count makes use of geographic information system (GIS) and uses GPS units to note exact location of a particular tree and also assigns an ID to the tree. This is supposed to help the authorities to take corrective measures as the data-base will have details indicating if the tree is diseased, is cut or whether it is enclosed at the base with cement-concrete. This level of information about the numbers and varieties of trees in the city is extremely useful and if the authorities can ensure that action is taken against unlawful felling, it would be really commendable.

Ineffective authority

However, in actual fact how many of us truly believe that this information will be used to preserve green cover and will not tampered with by corrupt officials and greedy land sharks for monetary gains? A similar tree census in Thane last year showed that the city had 4,55,000 trees. See TOI, 24.07.2014 “Green cheer: Census reveals Thane has over 4.55 lakh trees”. The report also mentioned that a very small percentage - 8.5% - of the trees were on government land, about 14% on industrial plots and the rest on privately held land. These figures are disturbing as the authorities have practically no control on the number of trees cut down on private land by landlords and builders for constructing large housing complexes, despite having a "Tree Authority". The Tree Authority permits felling of trees for road-widening, infrastructure and building construction after due evaluation. According to the civic rules, every tree that is cut must be replaced by planting five trees to compensate for the loss and to increase green cover.

But, is the Tree Authority effective? Does it maintain any records of the trees cut and how many have been planted as replacement? Can this information be accessed through Right To Information (RTI) act? You can bet your bottom dollar (or rupee) that no such information is available with them nor are they concerned about the excessive number of permits issued for felling trees.

The hard reality is, trees are being cut for road widening and building construction and not being replanted. Large trees which once provided shade and protection have been choked to death due to concrete encircling the tree trunks. With the same problem recurring all over the city and in Mumbai, it is shocking that no one has stopped it or taken suitable steps to prevent such destruction.