Mumbai: Parking woes stall tree trimming efforts ahead of monsoon

Residential areas with many vehicles have stalled the tree trimming process

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Garden Department has started trimming trees, but workers cannot complete the work as vehicles parked on streets are creating obstacles. This has caused a hurdle, as the word has to be completed before the arrival of the monsoon.

Jitendra Pardeshi, Garden Superintendent of BMC, said, "In some areas, we are facing problems due to parked vehicles. In certain cases, our staff and contract workers appointed to trim the trees face opposition from the locals. We are appealing to citizens to cooperate with BMC staff as this is necessary pre-monsoon work."

BMC has trimmed 15,821 trees to date

Another civic official who is monitoring the work told mid-day, "This kind of issue is normally faced in residential areas where there are many vehicles. We are not able to work because the residents are not ready to remove their vehicles. We even called the traffic police to ask residents to remove their vehicles."

According to the data shared by the Garden Department, there are around 414 trees that need to be fully cut down, out of which BMC has cut down 338 trees to date. While as per the BMC survey, 1,12,728 roadside trees need to be trimmed, out of which the BMC has trimmed 15,821 trees to date. There are around 1,86,246 roadside trees in Mumbai. Every year, BMC trims and cuts down dangerous trees before monsoon.

According to the BMC rule, BMC issued 3,690 notices to private societies, complexes, and government organisations to trim certain trees on their premises.