Lalbaugcha Raja mandal chops branches and leaves of 12 trees to erect AC enclosure for devotees; locals and environmentalists upset
The air-conditioned pavilions being erected for the 12 million devotees expected to queue up to get a darshan of Mumbai's favourite deity -- the Lalbaugcha Raja has left locals and greens fuming. The pandal spread over 60,000 sq ft across two adjoining grounds is being built by the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Mandal at the cost of around 12 trees, many of them over 20 years old.
Trees ki AC ki taisi: The trees at Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh Mandal
have been trimmed at the ground where the mandal is planning to erect
the air conditioned pandal for devotees. PIC/ DATTA KUMBHAR
According to sources from the BMC, the mandal had got a nod to only trim the trees to build the air-conditioned waiting enclosures on the two grounds belong to the Corporation and MHADA. But what the organisers at Lalbaug have gone ahead and done is chopped branches and cut leaves of the dozen trees leaving them naked with no foliage.
Junior tree officer from BMC's F-south Ward Nagle said, "The Lalbaugcha Raja Mandal was given permission to erect the AC pandal. However, I am not very sure about the permission granted to them with regards to the trees. As far as I remember, they had approached the BMC for trimming trees"
The locals are not too happy with the mandals decision to 'trim' trees, but were reluctant to come on record "The trees on the plots are very old; I have seen them standing on the grounds for nearly two decades now. Just a week ago, few people axed several branches of the trees and even cut all the leaves," said a Lalbaug resident, requesting anonymity.
City environmentalists also feel that the mandal should have been more careful with the trees. Dr Swapna Prabhu, a botany expert, Bombay Natural History Society, said, "Trimming should be restricted to the growing parts of the trees. Cutting down branches and the bark is harmful. It will be difficult for these trees to grow, as the barks provide food to them."
And the AC will do the trees any good. The trees will be in the air-conditioned pandal for 10 days, which Prabhu claims will only cause further harm to them. "If barks have been damaged, pumping cool air into the enclosure is like almost killing the trees slowly," she added.
| The Other Side | | Satish Khankar, president, Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Mandal, said, "We are a huge mandal and may have chopped a few branches of trees on the grounds. But the whole pandal has been erected keeping in mind that the trees are not damaged. We spend all the money that the mandal collects for the betterment of the society. Such little things should not matter, as we see to it that whatever we do we keep in mind all legal aspects." |
14,000, the approximate number of devotees the AC pandal will accommodate | 
