Kolkata: Tree experts and green activists have voiced their concern over the unplanned manner in which saplings are being planted across the city and have urged Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to take remedial measures to avoid repeating the mistakes that led to the loss of nearly 15,000 trees during Cyclone Amphan on May 20.
In the days following the devastation, green activists had urged the KMC to not hurry into a compensatory plantation drive, but plan it carefully after analyzing the reasons behind the destruction so as to ensure that proper varieties are planted in the right place. KMC had even convened a meeting attended by officials from the parks and squares department and forest department, green experts and NGOs. At the meeting, ideas were exchanged and it was decided that experts would be consulted when plantations are carried out. But that didn’t happen.
“We had called for ‘space for a tree’ and ‘tree for a space’. Space for a tree referred to finding the right space to plant a tree of our choice. For instance, if one wants to plant a banyan, one needs a large enough open space without any impediments. On the other hand, tree for a space referred to finding the right tree for a defined space, for example a spot on the pavement where a tree got uprooted in the cyclone,” said Arjan Basu Roy, whose organization Nature Mates has helped restore 260 uprooted trees in the city post Amphan.
Bonani Kakkar of green activist group Public, which has been crusading against paving of tree trunks, thoughtless and arbitrary plantation drives and unscientific pruning, said none of the concerns that had been expressed at the meeting appear to have been addressed.
“It is disheartening to see that saplings are being planted without thought to the location and future growth. Trees have been planted in the drain on Rawdon Street,” she said. She added that trees had also been planted in a row without considering the space between them and the room for roots to find stability. Such planting will only increase the likelihood of trees being knocked down by storms.
“The plantation has also violated the Urban Greening Guidelines, 2014, of the ministry of urban development, which clearly states that a minimum area of 1.2m×1.2m around the trees should be left uncemented for the tree’s healthy growth,” Kakkar said.
She has written to KMC commissioner Binor Kumar, drawing his attention to the anomalies in the planting process and urged him to take corrective steps.
KMC parks department officials said they were dependent on contractors for the job. “We know there have been lapses for want of supervision. We will rearrange the planting in some places,” said an official.
He, however, said leaving a 4ft×4ft space around a tree in a congested urban space like Kolkata may not be possible all the time. “Often, we don’t have this space,” he said.
In the days following the devastation, green activists had urged the KMC to not hurry into a compensatory plantation drive, but plan it carefully after analyzing the reasons behind the destruction so as to ensure that proper varieties are planted in the right place. KMC had even convened a meeting attended by officials from the parks and squares department and forest department, green experts and NGOs. At the meeting, ideas were exchanged and it was decided that experts would be consulted when plantations are carried out. But that didn’t happen.
“We had called for ‘space for a tree’ and ‘tree for a space’. Space for a tree referred to finding the right space to plant a tree of our choice. For instance, if one wants to plant a banyan, one needs a large enough open space without any impediments. On the other hand, tree for a space referred to finding the right tree for a defined space, for example a spot on the pavement where a tree got uprooted in the cyclone,” said Arjan Basu Roy, whose organization Nature Mates has helped restore 260 uprooted trees in the city post Amphan.
Bonani Kakkar of green activist group Public, which has been crusading against paving of tree trunks, thoughtless and arbitrary plantation drives and unscientific pruning, said none of the concerns that had been expressed at the meeting appear to have been addressed.
“It is disheartening to see that saplings are being planted without thought to the location and future growth. Trees have been planted in the drain on Rawdon Street,” she said. She added that trees had also been planted in a row without considering the space between them and the room for roots to find stability. Such planting will only increase the likelihood of trees being knocked down by storms.
“The plantation has also violated the Urban Greening Guidelines, 2014, of the ministry of urban development, which clearly states that a minimum area of 1.2m×1.2m around the trees should be left uncemented for the tree’s healthy growth,” Kakkar said.
She has written to KMC commissioner Binor Kumar, drawing his attention to the anomalies in the planting process and urged him to take corrective steps.
KMC parks department officials said they were dependent on contractors for the job. “We know there have been lapses for want of supervision. We will rearrange the planting in some places,” said an official.
He, however, said leaving a 4ft×4ft space around a tree in a congested urban space like Kolkata may not be possible all the time. “Often, we don’t have this space,” he said.
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