10 April,2014 08:50 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
Reacting to mid-day’s report on dying rain trees, the civic body planted six trees in place of the deceased trees
on MG Road in Goregaon (West)
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation finally decided to take action on the dying rain trees in the city. Taking a note of reports published in mid-day about the slowly vanishing rain trees in the Western suburbs, authorities replaced the dead trees with new ones on Tuesday.
Behaving responsibly: The BMC planted new trees in place of the dying rain trees. These trees produce yellow flowers in summer
This paper had reported on a proactive survey carried out by a concerned citizen, Accenture employee Kshitij Ashtekar, who, over a month, observed 611 rain trees lining roads in Goregaon (West), Link Road in Malad (West), Andheri (West) and D N Nagar, in December-January 2013. Of these, 233 had died and another 233 were dying (âMNC manager gets to the root of dying trees', February 11).
Civic officials on Tuesday started removing the dead trees and planted new ones in their place.
A total of six Peltophorum pterocarpum or copperpod trees, each about three years old, were planted on MG Road, which connects Link Road to SV Road in Goregaon (West). A similar plantation drive will be done at other locations soon. Yellow flowers bloom on these trees in the summer, a sight for sore eyes in the scathing heat.
"Around 5-6 trees were planted. It's good to see BMC taking serious action to save dying rain trees," said Ashtekar, who, in his survey, had concluded that fungal infections were one of the reasons why the trees were dying.
Ashtekar further added that the BMC's duty was far from over.
"They should take care of them and do regular roundups in the area to ensure the trees are not damaged. The trees should be watered at regular intervals," said Ashtekar.
