As officials prepare for a massive statewide tree plantation drive on July 1, mid-day checks what happened to those planted last year at Mahim's Maharashtra Nature Park
The trees in the VIP plot at Mahim's MNP are thriving and have a guard
While the Forest Department is gearing up to plant four crore trees in a statewide plantation drive on July 1, mid-day has discovered that whether the saplings survive depends on who planted them – a VIP or common man. Our reporters paid a visit to the Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP) in Mahim, where the state kicked off its ambitious tree plantation drive last July, and found that half the trees had withered, and some had died.
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Those planted by comoners are dry
These were trees planted by school and college students and nature-loving Mumbaikars. The scene here bore a striking contrast to the plot right next to it, where saplings were planted by VVIPs like Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the then Union Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar, Forest Minster Sudhir Mungantiwar and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. These trees were thriving and well cared for.
As many as 2.82 crore saplings were planted across the state as part of the plantation drive in July 2016, as part of the state's plan to eventually plant as many as 50 crore trees in the next three years. Sixteen government departments and hundreds of citizens took part in the drive. Of the 65,674 sites that were chosen from across Maharashtra, the nature park in Mahim was the first spot where the movement was started by the chief minister and governor. In November, the state also issued a circular to appeal to government departments to maintain an 80-90% survival rate.
Trees in the VIP plot are lush, while half the saplings planted by citizens are dead or dying. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Striking difference
Mid-day found that in one plot, there were about 200 trees that had been planted by VVIPs - well watered and lush. In fact, they had a security guard to watch over them. On an adjacent plot, just 100 metres away, there were about 300 trees planted by the common man. The ground here seemed dry and at least half of the plants were in bad shape. As many as 50 trees were dead.
Staff crunch at park
A labourer working at the park told mid-day that low manpower is to be blamed for the sorry state of the plants. "It is true that many of the saplings planted last year have dried up, but we don't have staff. Many of them left the jobs because they were not being paid their salary," said the worker.
Governor C Vidyasagar Rao planted saplings in a third plot, and these too are thriving, mid-day found. Environmentalist Stalin D said, "The government is interested in tokenism and photo-ops. The cost of looking after a tree is prohibitory and hence, it makes more sense to protect existing trees instead of engaging in such futile exercises. The state does not have enough ground water for the trees to thrive."
He added, "The reason behind such exercises is to benefit the contractors who dig pits for saplings. If you are talking about four crore trees, they will need contractors to carry out this job. This is nothing but a way to siphon off public money."
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