BMC’s 18 wards gave nod to cut 17k trees since 2013: RTI query.

Times of India: Richa Pinto: Mumbai : Friday, March 26, 2024.

Over the past decade, data from a Right to Information (RTI) query by the NGO Watchdog Foundation found that the BMC’s 18 civic wards granted permission to cut down 17,050 . This doesn’t include proposal to cut 2,238 trees at Aarey colony which were given permission to be cut down for the Metro 3 car depot as among the wards which did not provide information K east data was unavailable.

The other five wards from where the NGO also did not get information were H east (Bandra east) H west (Bandra west), R north (Dahisar), R south (Kandivli) and R Central (Borivli).

Activists from the NGO have pointed that if the data from six wards was made available, the number of trees cut in the past one decade would have gone to over 20,000. Among the wards which granted the maximum tree cutting permission was K west which includes parts of Andheri West. This ward granted permission to cut 2,083 trees. Similarly, N ward (Ghatkopar) granted permission to cut 1,928 trees and P south ward 1,660 trees

In response, the BMC stated that it has planted over 5.72 lakh trees through Miyawaki method across 60+ plots throughout the city. Miyawaki technique- pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki is where native trees are urban forest within the maximum city. The information received by the NGO relates to the period up to Aug 31,2023.