12 Kolkata: After cutting down around 40 tall trees in Salt Lake, which were either dead or fully damaged, the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) now plans to undertake compensatory avenue plantation with only small and medium-sized trees suitable for the soil nature of the township. The move is aimed at preventing trees from getting uprooted and curbing accidents which have occurred in the recent past.
Civic officials said that several tall and large trees that had been leaning forward dangerously, damaged, drying out, or dead, had to be felled due to accidents that had taken place previously. In several instances, decaying or weak trees fell on the road and on top of parked vehicles.
Earlier this year, a 40-year old resident of Habra was seriously injured and later succumbed to injuries, after a full-grown tree had fallen on him inside Purbachal housing complex at Salt Lake. In a survey conducted a few years back, around 100 large trees across Salt Lake were found to be in a perilous condition.
"Damaged trees are cut after attaining the forest department's permission. Many trees that were in a precarious condition, dead or posing a risk to people, have been cut down. The plan, now, is to compensate for the loss of greenery by planting small and medium-sized trees at the same place," said BMC MMiC (environment) Rahima Bibi Mondal.
The civic authorities have been taking advice from horticulture experts who have suggested planting small and medium-sized trees instead of tall trees to avoid fatal accidents in the future. "The nature of the soil in Salt Lake is such that trees that are large and have deep roots should not be planted as they cannot penetrate deep into the soil, and thus their base often gets weak once they grow up. Large or tall trees are suitable only in parks or open fields. For avenue plantation in the township, only small or medium-sized palm trees should be considered," said a horticulture expert.
Officials said that corrective measures need to be taken to secure the trees which are still in a poor condition. "Trees that are in bad shape would be trimmed from the top to reduce their weight and prevent them from leaning dangerously. Those which are dead will be uprooted," said an official.