Housing societies to bear cost of tree trimming: BMC

After awarding contracts for treepruning across the city the BMC appealed to citizens to take permissions and prune trees in their residential premises The cost of trimming trees will depend on the type and girth of the tree and has to be borne by the housing societies Many activists and corporators have been demanding that the cost of pruning trees should be borne by the corporation but the BMC has refused to do soLast week around 1000 trees were uprooted by Cyclone Tauktae and the branches of several thousand trees fell It takes four to five days to clear them and many citizens groups came forward to rehabilitate the uprooted treesThe BMC has selected contractors to trim trees across the city at a cost of Rs 37 crore for a yearldquoThe permission is necessary and it is given within seven days once the prescribed fee is paid at the ward office The permission can be taken by visiting a ward office from portalmcgmgovin or from the app MCGM 247 Citizens will have to dispose of the broken branches and other debris if they hire a private contractor In case of a civicappointed contractor they will dispose of the wasterdquo said Jitendra Pardeshi superintendent of the Garden Department of the BMCldquoWe canrsquot give service to private properties The civicappointed contractorsrsquo charges are including pruning as well as transportation People can do it by private contractors alsordquo said an official from the BMCAlso Read Mumbai Trees bear brunt of concrete bases near Lokhandwala lakelsquoLet BMC spend tax moneyrsquoldquoSocieties already bear the maintenance cost of gardens and trees The BMC collects property tax from everyone they should give this service at least to housing societies The demand has been there for several years but the BMC administration is just ignoring itrdquo said Ravi Raja Congress corporator and leader of opposition in the BMCldquoWe raised the issue for several years Housing societies cannot take the burden of Rs 40000 to Rs 50000 a year for pruning a tree This will discourage the planting of trees Besides thousands of trees and branches fell during the cyclone It was a natural disaster how can we ask people to spend their moneyrdquo said Abhijeet Samant BJP corporator and member of the Tree AuthorityldquoIt will not be a burden on the BMC which spends thousands of crores on fancy projects Trees are important and people need BMCrsquos support to protect themrdquo said Rais Shaikh corporator and MLA of Samajwadi PartylsquoBMC discouraging peoplersquoldquoThe corporation must bear the expenses Nowadays chain saws are used widely It should not be so expensive to trim Why is BMC discouraging people If this is done people will poison trees and clear the area The corporation should support societies and individuals to protect and scientifically trim treesrdquo said Stalin D an environmental activistldquoThe BMC pays crores every year to their own contractors to remove the dangerous branches on every single tree in Mumbai both private and public When the BMC has issued a purchase order for every tree in Mumbai is it not their responsibility to check and care for each tree Or is the tender issued only to siphon off money in the name of tree carerdquo said activist Zoru BhathenaExpenditure on treepruningRs 37 crore Amount BMC has agreed to pay to prune trees on roads public spaces for a year The amount is divided among areas as suchRs 888 crore Eastern suburbsRs 1666 crore Western suburbsRs 1247 crore Island city