Mumbai residents root for banyan tree uprooted during Cyclone Tauktae

A Peddar Road landmark gets a lease of life with a community-driven transplant at Napean Sea Road’s Priyadarshini Park

As Cyclone Tauktae tore through Mumbai on Monday, a Peddar Road banyan tree became a casualty. The landmark that threw its roots on the buzzing South Mumbai road, was uprooted from its base at Nalanda building. It broke the wall and gates and crashed down.

For residents, some of whom grew up with the tree, “The loss was deep and emotional. If there is some solace, there was no loss of life or property,” they said.
The locals were so attached to the tree that they wanted to give it another shot at life. A day after the wind went howling past Mumbai, and the rains died down, the community ensured that the tree was loaded into a truck and carried to Priyadarshini Park (PDP) at Napean Sea Road where it was transplanted.

The tree crashed through the wall and broke the gates before falling on the road

Want to live

Alka Pandya, a Nalanda building resident, said, “The building WhatsApp chat started buzzing after the tree fall, with the overriding sentiment being that something must be done to save the banyan. We got a contractor, a truck was hired and the massive banyan was cut to 12 feet from its original, approximately 50 feet, lifted by a crane and put into the vehicle and transplanted at PDP. It was 11.30 pm when the exercise was over on Tuesday.” Pandya, along with others, claimed she has an emotional connection with the tree. “It looked like the tree was saying to us: my time has not come, almost like a person, who wishes to live,” she finished.

Also Read: Cyclone Tauktae destroyed 812 trees, most exotic species in Mumbai

Gauri Savla from Alpana building, which shares a wall with Nalanda, said, “I saw the tree fall. I had just finished lunch on Monday and saw the trees swaying madly. I thought to myself, the banyan is swaying a little more than usual and then it fell. I actually screamed as it fell.” Savla’s family ran down to check for damage. Both Pandya and Savla said, “It was as if the tree was so considerate, it actually looked around to see that there would be no harm done before it fell.”

The tree being cleared with the help of a crane

Emotional connect

Architect Kashyap Gandhi from Nalanda building added, “There was a massive sound as the tree fell, one could hear it above the howling wind. I did not in my dreams think that the banyan will become a cyclone casualty given its size and obvious strength. This is more than a tree, not just for Nalanda residents but for the entire Peddar Road, it is an emotion. I have consulted with some experts who say the tree will grow and survive post-transplantation. Some of us will visit PDP to see how it is getting on.”

There are question marks over whether trees survive transplantation, with some experts claiming that it is wiser to plant 10 new saplings anywhere, to replace a 
fallen tree.

Susieben Shah, general secretary, Malabar Hill Citizens Forum (MHCF), the custodians of Priyadarshini Park, said, “This replanted tree has a good chance of survival. During Cyclone Nisarga last year, there were at least 15 uprooted trees transplanted at PDP and 13 have survived.” Environmentalists said survival aside, the green consciousness and realisation that trees are important enough to warrant a community-driven effort, is truly heartening. The go green message is not just a hip byword but has seeped in like water passing into the roots of a plant through osmosis. Pandya signed off, “It is not just the BMC, or certain section of people, that have a duty to save trees. We all do. They give us oxygen. Otherwise, future generations will depend on oxygen cylinders at all times.

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