Despite smog and heat, Mumbai okays removal of 7,633 trees in five months

In a city grappling with plummeting air quality and rising heat, over 7,500 trees are set to face the axe to make way for civic infrastructure projects as well as private redevelopment works.

The permissions to fell 7,633 trees have been granted over five months by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Tree Authority, which was constituted back to power in April after a hiatus of nearly four years. Of the total permissions granted, the Tree Authority, which safeguards Mumbai’s green cover by regulating permissions for tree felling and plantation in Mumbai, has granted approvals to permanently cut 3,502 trees while 4,131 trees have been earmarked for felling and transplantation.

Data accessed by The Indian Express shows that the permissions for tree felling were cleared as a part of at least 43 different proposals, which were approved in a span of eight meetings of the Tree Authority convened between May 8 and October 5.

The removal of trees was sought for infrastructure projects of government agencies, including BMC and MMRDA for projects, including Mumbai Coastal Road, Dharavi Redevelopment, Orange gate tunnel project and other private redevelopment projects. The clearance was received on the basis of proposals, tabled before the Tree Authority, where agencies concerned identified and created an inventory of trees along the alignment of their project work.

Collectively, the proposals by different agencies identified 14,877 trees in the project alignment of which 3,502 were sought to be permanently cut, 4,131 were proposed for transplantation while the remaining trees were proposed to be retained.

The proposals were cleared by the Tree Authority, which was formulated in April after remaining dissolved for nearly four years. A query to the BMC’s Superintendent of Gardens and Tree officer by The Indian Express did not elicit a response.

When numbers speak

Documents show that the largest number of tree cutting and transplantation was approved to make way for the second phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project where the agency had submitted proposals to cut 706 trees and transplant 1,294 trees.

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For instance: as a part of the package E of the coastal road project, one of the proposals sought to cut 33 trees in Kandivali, followed by 140 trees near Gorai and 80 trees in Borivali for the project’s F package, 23 trees and 118 trees near Charkop for Package D, 130 trees for its Bangar Nagar to Mindspace stretch and 182 trees for the project’s Package A.

Permissions for all the coastal road (north) project proposals were granted in a meeting convened on May 29.

Another large number of tree felling was approved for infrastructure projects such as MMRDA’s elevated corridor from Chedha Nagar to Anand Nagar, Motilal Nagar redevelopment, Dharavi redevelopment project and Orange gate to Marine Drive tunnel project.

How it is approved

In Mumbai, all proposals for felling and plantation of trees for development works are cleared by the Tree Authority, which comprises a panel of 13 elected members and upto 10 nominated members. In BMC, the tree authority was constituted in 1976 as per the provisions of Maharashtra Act No. XLIV of 1975. According to the act provisions, the proceedings of the authority are chaired by the BMC commissioner who serves as the panel’s chairperson.

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The proposals to cut, protect or transplant trees are submitted before the Tree Authority for final approvals, after passing through a long channel of bureaucratic assessment.

According to the norms laid out to ensure protection of trees, a developer or government agency executing any development work in Mumbai is mandated to identify trees that are slated to be affected during the course of the construction period and submit an inventory of the total trees before the zonal deputy superintendent of gardens in BMC. Once the proposal is received, the zonal deputies identify the area of the proposed works and forward the document to the assistant superintendent of gardens at the concerned ward level.

Gradually, the proposal is inspected at the ward level. An official — Junior Tree Officer — is deployed to scrutinise the site, inspect the trees and identify the affected zone. Gradually, the developer is tasked with numbering the affected trees and marking in colours, the trees which are earmarked for complete removal, retention and transplantation.

On the basis of the field inspection, an inventory with the scientific names of trees, their age, height and family is prepared and submitted. After ascertaining that only trees that are completely along the alignment are earmarked for permanent removal, a final report of proposal with the tree inventory as well as plans for transplantation is submitted by the Junior Tree Officer to the Assistant Superintendent of Gardens, who gradually submits the file to the Zonal Deputy.

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Before the tree proposal is cleared, the civic body also publishes the notification about proposed cutting of trees in the newspaper inviting suggestions and objections from citizens. It is after taking into account these objections that the final proposal is submitted to the Superintendent of Gardens and gradually to the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) of Gardens department. Finally, the DMC submits the proposal before the Tree Authority for discussion and clearances.

While the proposals were deliberated upon by the members of the Tree Authority, the panel remained unelected four nearly four years after the civic house dissolved in March 2022.

In the absence of elected representatives for nearly four years owing to the limbo in BMC elections, all proposals were cleared or denied by the civic municipal commissioner who also served as the state-appointed administrator.

The Tree Authority

On March 31, the Tree Authority panel was finally inducted through an announcement in the general body and its first session commenced in April. At present, the authority encompasses five councillors from the BJP, four from Shiv Sena (UBT), two from Shiv Sena and one member from Congress, and AIMIM each. The composition of the authority reflects the party-wise strength inside the 227-member civic house.

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While the act mandates the panel to comprise of upto 10 nominated members, the authority is yet to appoint them. Despite no nominated members, the proposals were cleared by the panel amid deliberation and flak from the Tree Authority members from the Opposition.

Infra blow to green cover

Speaking to The Indian Express, officials from the BMC attributed the high number of tree cut approvals to large infrastructure projects. “If one were to look at the pre-Covid (pandemic) period, neither the BMC nor other agencies were executing infrastructure projects of such a scale. Over the past few years, the scale as well as number of infrastructure projects has increased and so has the total number of affected trees as these projects span over a larger area.”

Ganesh Khankar, leader of BMC house and a member of standing committee concurred, pointing to large scale projects ranging from Mumbai Coastal Road Project, Metro works as well as Dharavi redevelopment. “When we receive proposals for smaller development works, the number of affected trees is much lower. Now, the scale of projects ranging from coastal road to Metro and even cluster redevelopment projects is significantly higher.”

However, Khankar maintained that with the rise of tree cut approvals, the number of transplantation permissions had also improved. “The rate of transplantation of trees is on the rise. Depending on the scale of trees to be planted, we approve the transplantation plans. Since large open space is available in Aarey and Sanjay Gandhi National Park, developers prefer to transplant trees in these belts. In case of larger projects like coastal roads, the transplantation is executed outside city limits depending on the land parcel made available by the Forest department,” Khankar told The Indian Express.

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The approvals for felling trees come at a time when the city is witnessing poor air quality index and a prolonged heat wave, which have been linked with the green cover by experts and studies.

As per the civic tree census of 2011, Mumbai is home to 29.75 lakh trees. However, the current tree count remains amiss with officials maintaining that a fresh tree census is underway.