Surviving trees in Gurugram on verge of death

Gurugram: As Gurugram urbanises, the problem of massive tree felling has become a major cause of concern for the city dwellers. The bigger problem however is that surviving species are also made to die a slow death with improper maintenance by the government agencies. A recent survey by the forest department revealed that more than 1,500 trees in the city have dried and are also on the verge of death. The trees that have been surveyed comes under the areas managed by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, Hryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development corporation (HSIIDC). According to environment experts, poor techniques adopted in growing of the new saplings, exploitation of the trees in form of drilling, poor groundwater recharging facilities have worsened the condition of surviving trees in the city.

The experts pointed out how exploitations in form of drilling nails inside the bark of tree are resulting in oozing out of the sap, causing infections and subsequent death of the trees.

Often the impact of weak root structure of trees is felt during monsoon season or during dust storms when most of the trees are unable to withstand the wind pressure and fall off. Professor Rommel Mehta, Head Department of Landscape from School of Planning and Architecture said, "The weakness of the trees can also be visible from the fact that today most of the trees in urban areas of national capital region are not attaining its standard height."

He further adds, "Today the soft surfaces in the city is gradually decreasing and the water that is expected to seep inside the ground is flowing off, this affects the roots of the trees. An average lifespan of the tree should be about 50-100 years however today trees in the city are barely able to survive for even 15 years."

"I really think we do not understand the significance of trees especially in context of Gurugram where the groundwater reserves have reached extremely low levels. While thousands of trees are being felled for development, I feel the urban planners have deliberately made sure that those which are surviving are also not taken care of so that ultimately they can also be chopped off," said Ranjana Malik, a city resident.

With dwindling green cover in the city becoming a major challenge, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) had mulled over the formation of data bank to count the number of trees in the city. There were also plans to ensure strict vigilance on the preservation of green cover. Yet, the plans have not been executed on a comprehensive scale.

For long, there have been complaints of not having a centralised agency in the city that can design a comprehensive framework for enhancing the greenery in the city.