Mumbai: Only 75,000 trees planted in city in 2022-23

The Aarey Colony has one of the largest green covers in the city. File pic

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) commitment to augment Mumbai's greenery appears to have dwindled. According to data, during the 2022-23 financial year, the civic body planted only 76,189 trees, which is a sharp 71 per cent drop as compared to the 2.65 lakh trees it planted in 2021-22.

Environmentalists say the decline in tree planting efforts is a matter of concern, especially as the civic body is racing against time to combat the city's escalating dust and air pollution levels.

As per the civic body's Environmental Status Report (ESR) of the city, in 2021-22, the BMC planted 40,023 trees using traditional methods while 2,25,010 trees were planted using the Japanese Miyawaki technique. In 2022-23, the BMC planted only 6,214 using the traditional method and 69,975 using the Miyawaki technique.

A Miyawaki forest at Bhakti Park in Wadala. File pic

Activitst said, rather than increasing tree plantations, which serve as natural dust barriers, the BMC has chosen to acquire anti-smog machines and vehicle-mounted sprinklers to address the dust issue in the city. The BMC has floated tenders for the acquisition of 30 anti-smog machines at a cost of R48.6 crore. Additionally, the civic body is also in the planning stages of installing two outdoor dust mitigation units as a pilot project.

Activists have slammed the civic body for the drop in tree plantations and for spending crores from its coffers on machinery. Stalin Dayanand, an environmental activist and director of NGO Vanashakti, said, "The BMC doesn't focus on the root cause of the problem. They just want to spend money on temporary solutions. They are doing the same yet again this time. On one hand, the BMC allows the cutting of trees for development and on the other hand, they reduce the speed and number of plantations. This will be more hazardous to the city and will disrupt the ecosystem."

Environmentalist Anand Pendharkar asserted that trees are a natural barrier to dust. "Trees also reduce heat and there are other environmental benefits too. In the last few years, the number of trees has increased, but no information about trees planted against the trees cut for development works is available with the government agencies," Pendharkar said.

According to the tree census conducted in 2018, there are 29.75 lakh trees in Mumbai. Ghatkopar's N ward has the highest tree cover with a count of 2.92 lakh trees, while P North (Malad) took second place with 2.84 lakh trees and S ward (Bhandup-Vikhroli-Powai) was listed third with 2.54 lakh trees.

2.92 lakh
No. of trees in N ward (Ghatkopar)