No lessons learnt: NMC chokes tree on East HC Rd too

Nagpur: If the 'mindless' concretization of roads by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) continues, the city can expect to lose several age-old trees soon. The civic body has failed to take any measures to avoid choking of trees at road concretization sites. Activists have warned they will file a contempt petition in Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court if no remedial steps are taken.

After West High Court (WHC) Road, NMC seems to be repeating its mistake on East High Court Road too. While concretizing the stretch opposite Bhole petrol pump, at many spots, NMC has not left the mandatory space around the tree trunks, which are now completely choked with concrete and inter-locking tiles. Where NMC has left a little space, it is filled with cement and rubble instead of good quality soil. The concrete weakens the tree base and restricts flow of water and nutrients.

Green activists fear that like at WHC Road, the corporation will construct a cemented boundary of blocks around the base of trees, thus restricting the flow of water. This can already be seen on East High Court Road, where one of the oldest trees of the area is surrounded by a concrete boundary. "With concretization of roads, groundwater table will decrease and rainwater will be one of the main sources for survival of trees. Though rainwater will get collected in the vacant space, it won't completely reach the roots, and will result in collapse of trees," said green activist Surbhi Jaiswal.

Earlier, at WHC road, NMC had sealed the space around trees completely by constructing a boundary of concrete. In April, a joint inspection was conducted by NGO Green Vigil Foundation and officials of NMC's garden department, after which the latter had assured to remove some blocks from every tree to ensure smooth flow of water. However, even six months later, the blocks have not been removed.

Seven years back, the HC had taken serious note of "cementing and tarring around trees on city roads". Environment activist Shrikant Deshpande blamed NMC for not following the court's directives. "Preventive steps should be taken before laying the first layer of concrete. We have been repeatedly raising the issue with civic officials but they are not taking it seriously. The only option is to take the matter to court again," he said.

As reported by TOI earlier, the garden department is facing severe staff crunch. During the tenure of former garden superintendent Sudhir Mate, it was decided that scientific measures will be taken to avoid choking while concretizing roads. "We had communicated it to the concerned officials," said staffers of the garden department.

TOI could not contact NMC chief engineer Vijay Banginwar. "Unless the manpower in garden department is increased, trees cannot be saved," said founder of Green Vigil Kaustav Chatterjee.

EARLIER AGENCY FILED TO COMPLETE JOB

Some months back, NMC had appointed a private agency to de-choke trees using NMC funds. Former mayor Pravin Datke had allocated around Rs15 lakh from mayor's funds for de-choking of trees. NMC officials had announced they would remove choking from over 5,000 trees. In the initial phase, the process was allegedly started in three zones — Dhantoli, Dharampeth and Lakadganj. While greens have raised a question over the agency's failure, NMC sources said de-choking was carried out at some spots but work could not be completed due to "disagreement between the corporation and the agency".