CSMT redevelopment will affect 128 trees at the project site, with 56 marked for felling and 72 proposed for transplantation, after the BMC Tree Authority considered a Railway Land Development Authority proposal in Mumbai on Friday. The plan also proposes planting 2,463 compensatory trees at two locations outside the immediate project area.
The proposal states that 242 trees currently exist on the redevelopment site. Of these, 56 are likely to be removed and 72 transplanted, while the remaining trees are expected to be retained under the project plan. The BMC garden department inspected the site on June 22 with a representative of the applicant before the proposal was placed before the Tree Authority.
The inspection found that 14 trees previously recorded for retention under an approval granted in February 2024 no longer existed at the site. The report did not state in the supplied material how or when those trees disappeared.
Kishori Pednekar of Shiv Sena (UBT), who raised the issue, questioned whether the 72 trees marked for transplantation would be protected. “It’s very unfortunate that the 14 trees which were to be retained are no longer present at the site. In such circumstances, what is the guarantee that the 72 trees marked for transplantation would be transplanted?” she said.
RLDA has proposed compensatory plantation at the RPF Barracks in Thakurli East and the Mogli Dam area in Digha. The Thakurli site covers 14,202 square metres, while the Digha site covers 11,431 square metres. Together, the two locations account for 25,633 square metres of land for the proposed plantation.
The compensatory planting plan would place the replacement trees away from the CSMT redevelopment site and its immediate surroundings. Ganesh Khankar, the BJP party leader in the BMC, said trees selected for transplantation should instead be planted in a nearby civic garden so that the area’s greenery could be maintained locally. “While we aren’t opposed to development works, my only submission was the trees to be transplanted be put up in the civic garden in the vicinity itself,” he said.
The CSMT project’s tree plan also raised questions about the functioning of the Tree Authority’s approval process. AIMIM party leader and Tree Authority member Vijay Ubale criticised the BMC for not circulating the meeting agenda in time for members to examine the proposals. He said he did not attend the meeting because he had not received sufficient details in advance.
The meeting was eventually adjourned, with only one proposal sanctioned by the committee, according to the report. The supplied material does not specify the subsequent implementation schedule for the tree removal, transplantation or compensatory plantation measures.
