BMC seeks experts' tips on greening Mumbai

MUMBAI: From encourag-ing kitchen gardens to selecting the right kind of tree varieties to plant on roadsides, environmentalists and acad-emicians offered various su-ggestions to the BMC on greening the city. The BMC has organised a two-day workshop at Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan to ideate and brainstorm on how to improve the city's bio-diversity.

V Shubalaxmi, an entomologist, said kitchen gardens must have a mix of herbs, plants and shrubs that attra-ct birds and butterflies. "Alo-ng the roadside, it is best not to plant the same variety of tree. Mumbai had a bad infestation on rain trees which ki-lled many of them. Planting different varieties of native trees helps growth of bio-div-ersity," said Shubalaxmi. Pointing out that the BMC nursery has only 40 varieties of native trees, ecologist Kirti Wani submitted a list of more trees that could be planted. Prof Amita Bhide from TISS said there's no initiative to replace the trees that have fa-llen or have been destroyed.

D Munde, deputy superintendent of gardens, said they have already held meetings with the Practising Engineers, Architects and Town Planners Association and housing industry representative body CREDAI-MCHI on framing guidelines on the type of herbs, shrubs, and trees that can be planted in kitchen windows, balconies, on podiums, and terraces so that they do not affect the structural stability of buildings. "We are awaiting inputs from the building proposal and development plan department before we release the guidelines," he said.
Jitendra Pardeshi, superintendent of gardens, said BMC has taken up the development of gardens below fl-yovers and is looking at vertical gardens and providing amenities like open gyms, cycling and running tracks. "The BMC is working to create a dashboard and is now in a position to map all open spaces on Google platform that will help citizens access parks, gardens, playgrounds closest to them," he said.