The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has launched a tree adoption scheme which also aims at enhancing the green cover of the twin city. However, in a startling revelation, the Tree Authority has been lagging in conducting the mandated tree census for nearly four years.
After much dilly-dialling, the civic administration finally rolled out the tender process and appointed a Navi Mumbai-based agency to conduct a tree census under its jurisdiction using sophisticated satellite-based technologies including geographic information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS). The work order for the Rs. one crore census project was issued by MBMC’s Tree Authority last week.
As per the agreement, the agency has to complete the census work and submit the statistical data report within a year. The tree count jumped from 1,89,842 in 2005 to 2,39,337 in 2013 and 6,47,963 in the latest census which was conducted in 2018.
As per the Maharashtra Urban Areas (Protection and Preservation of Trees) Act, 1975, it is mandatory for all local-self-government bodies to conduct a tree census once in every five years. However, it has taken almost four years to start the process. The census gives the policy planners a perspective on the green cover and takes steps to ensure a sustainable environment in the concrete forests of the city.
The census involves data collection of each and every tree by trained botanists with the help of a geo-enabled service application supported by the GPS and GIS and synchronises the compilations with a web-based platform which helps transfer the detailed analysis of parameters like health, age, canopy diameter, species, family, ownership, ingenious status of each surveyed tree directly from the field to the main server.
A cursory glance at the category-wise data enlisted by the agency in 2018, around five lakh ornamental trees, one lakh fruiting trees and 19,000 medicinal trees were in existence across the twin city.
