‘Sustainable development’, they say!

It seems that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), Maha metro, and various other departments working with the motive of so called ‘sustainable development’ in the city by transforming the tar roads into the cement roads, have absolutely no concern left for the trees.

Every year they come up with a new figure of tree plantation, like this time it is 33crore in the state. But the existing trees in the city have been destroyed, one by one, with fast speed. The picture is shown in the report, clearly display the cruel and careless attitude of the authorities running such developmental projects.

 

These huge trees, alongside VIP road near Central mall, are on the verge of slow death. For more than a month now, the roots of these decade-old trees have been kept open for cable laying process. Some trees have already fallen, and the root of few trees have been destroyed due to excessive digging operations; sometimes for cement roads, and currently for the cable laying work. A senior NMC official says on the condition of anonymity that the garden department is helpless.

Person said, “In the name of ‘Vikas’, these decade-old trees are being disturbed. Garden department cannot do anything as they have to give permission in any case. The current construction activities have caused damage to root as a result many of them would not survive the rainy windy weather.”

Environmentalist Kaustav Chatterjee said, Older trees are more susceptible to damage from construction activities than younger trees. It may be noted that according to new research published in the journal Nature, people cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization.

To this Chatterjee said “Negative impacts from construction activities within a tree’s root zone are often not visible in the tree until 3 to 5 years after the construction has ended”, he said.

To understand how trees are affected by root disturbance it is important to understand the structure of a tree’s root system. Ninety percent of the root system is located in the first 12 to 18 inches of soil. The roots extend radially from the trunk one to two times the height of the tree, stated Chatterjee.

Whereas Amol Chorpagar, NMC garden superintendent assured to look upon the matter. “We did not know about the incident, but surely will look into it.”

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