Mumbai: At the BMC’s Tree Authority meeting on Friday, when multiple tree-cutting and transplantation proposals came up for approval, corporators across party lines questioned the practice of compensatory plantation outside Mumbai municipal limits, like Bhiwandi, Palghar and Panvel, arguing that such measures dilute the objective of maintaining the city’s green cover.One of the key proposals pertained to trees being affected due to the first phase of the Motilal Nagar cluster redevelopment project in Goregaon (West), among the city’s largest redevelopment schemes. The proposal sought permission to fell 89 trees and transplant another 131 trees to facilitate construction work. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) also sought approval for axing 320 trees and transplanting 386 trees as part of the Eastern Freeway extension plan from Chheda Nagar to Thane’s Anand Nagar.The scale of proposed tree felling and transplantation raised concerns from several party leaders during the meeting. Hetal Gala, a Tree Authority member and chairman of the civic garden and market committee, said, “The compensatory plantation needs to be done in the city limits itself by identifying large open spaces available. These should be mapped accordingly.”BJP party leader Ganesh Khankar said that he has proposed that compensatory plantation should be prioritised within Mumbai itself, including available open spaces under flyovers and Metro stations, rather than in distant peripheral districts.Opposition members from the Shiv Sena (UBT) objected to MMRDA’s Eastern Freeway extension tree cutting proposal. Former mayor Kishori Pednekar of Sena (UBT) said BMC should adopt technologies used in other countries that allow trees to be transplanted along with their root systems, instead of cutting them down.She also remarked that if all proposals are meant to be passed by the ruling party and civic administration, then the opposition’s approval can be taken on phone itself, and they need not come for the meeting.
