The Times of India 08.09.2010
BMC lacks modern tools for pruning
MUMBAI: The civic gardens department has virtually no modern implements for cutting, trimming and transplanting trees. For the odd machine that does exist, there are no trained operators, say insiders.
The city has just three jeep-mounted lifts for trimming, which don’t reach very high, especially the tops of old trees. No wonder, BEST prefers to have its own vehicle for trimming trees that come in the way of its double-deckers.
Given that each ward has 15,000 to 20,000 trees on an average, Niranjan Shetty, member of the civic Tree Authority, has been demanding that every ward must have a McLifton for trimming.
Dr Nilesh Baxi, another Tree Authority member, wonders why ultrasonic equipment to detect hollows in tree trunks and branches cannot be bought when it is used regularly to check quality of construction.
Avinash Kubal, deputy director of the Maharashtra Nature Park and a nominated member of the Tree Authority, suggests the BMC can invite citizens to post pictures of dangerous trees on the net.
The BMC does have the tree shredder, which, sources say, is either under repair or the operator is on leave. Most of the tree trimming is outsourced to contractors whose men climb the trees, tie a rope to the branch to be cut and then begin axing it. These primitive methods resulted in the death of a man at Mulund last month. Often, the contractors are merely after wood and butcher the trees in the name of pruning them.
