2,650 societies get BMC notice to trim all trees

As many as 2650 societies in Mumbai have been issued notices by the BMC to trim trees on their premises There are over 1525 lakh trees on private premisesldquoWe have served notices as a precautionary measure Societies need to take care of the trees on their premises before the monsoonrdquo said Jitendra Pardesi BMC garden superintendentA BMC official said ldquoWe will take a review at the ward level If a society approaches us we will provide the service and they will have to pay for it If a society wants to trim dangerous trees on their own then they should take permission from us Also after trimming they must dispose of the branches themselves Some big societies have more than 100 trees on their premisesrdquoHe added ldquoEvery year before the monsoon the BMC starts trimming dangerous trees This year to date BMC has chopped 21000 dangerous branchesrdquoAs per the BMC data Mumbai has recorded 18446 tree collapse incidents in the past three years On March 22 2022 a 64yearold man died in a tree collapse at MahimldquoAs per rules we take care of trees on our premises and on public roads Trees on private or another authoritys land are their responsibilityrdquo another official saidPrivate society applicationsldquoBMC receives 400 applications daily from private premises Our staff reviews the applications visits the spot and then clears them We have to make sure that people are not cutting down healthy treesrdquo said the official BMC uses a hightech cutting system to prevent harm to trees ldquoWe use cranes to trim trees We have already surveyed dangerous trees and branches and will start trimming them We are in the process of appointing a new contractor as the ongoing contract of the current one will end in Junerdquo the official saidlsquoBMC cut tree without public noticersquoA citybased green activist has once again alleged that the BMC has cut a standing dead tree at Aarey Milk Colony Environmentalist Zoru Bhathena said A very large rain tree was cut in Aarey On verifying the information we learnt that it was a dead tree It is necessary for BMC to remove such huge dead trees before they fall and cause damage However it is also necessary for BMC to follow the law and issue a public notice before cutting any tree dead or alive BMCs intentions to remove the dead tree may have been good but the procedure wasnt followedTree census 2019Total trees 2975283Trees on roadside 185333Trees in BMC gardens 10167Trees on governmentpremises 1563701Trees on privatepremises 1125182