Community people from Dwarka are raising their voices these days to remove concretization around the trees and adhere to the laid protocols under the Delhi Forest Act. This week, CitySpidey wrote about the incident that happened in Sector 6, Dwarka where a tree fell due to concretisation.
Within days, this issue got resolved where the fallen tree was set upright with one JCB and two cranes. The following story was published again on our website. Now again the environment lovers are raising their voices to remove the concretisation all across Dwarka. They said there are many more trees that will get destroyed or will fall if concrete tiles are not removed immediately. Many infected trees must be treated immediately.
Lately, they have started an online petition for deconcretisation of trees, where almost 811 have already signed. They have marked this petition to Delhi Development Authority (DDA), SDMC (South Delhi Municipal Corporation), Chief Minister of Delhi and the Forest Department.
They wrote in the petition, "Delhi government's forest department guidelines and Delhi Forest Act suggest that a space of 1 meter should be left on each side of its trunk for the tree to sustain. DDA officials of Civil and Horticulture Department of Dwarka sub-city have been requested time and again to ensure this for many years. As many trees get uprooted/damaged every time there is storm/high-speed winds or heavy rains in and around Dwarka. Dwarka being a well-planned sub-city has good space and avenue for strategic planning of tree plantation. However, in many places, trees have not been planted as per the site soil or area e.g. some big trees have been planted near drains resulting in damaged roots when they grow big. Trees need to be sustained and nurtured for a long term till they are self-sustained."
The petition read, "Dwarka has had a very high percentage of pollutants, particularly in Sector 7, for the last so many years. Trees are life-givers and recently we have seen the importance of oxygen which can be in abundance around native trees like Peepal, Neem, Jamun, Banyan etc as per availability of space and area are planted and nurtured properly rather than expensive non-native varieties like palm tree etc. Let's please don't allow them to be ravaged by concretisation by DDA, Civil, PWD, SDMC or any other public agencies. DDA needs to take up special drive to remove concretisation around the trees and strictly follow the laid guidelines under Delhi Forest Act. During every storm/heavy rains, we lose many trees diluting all efforts put in for so many years."
Anil Kumar Parashar, Joint Secretary of Dwarka Forum and Head of Mission Clean and Green Dwarka said, "Dwarka being a well-planned sub-city has good space and avenue for strategic planning of tree plantation. However, in many places trees have not been planted as per the site/soil or area. E.g. some big trees have been planted near drains resulting in damaged roots when they grow big. Trees need to be sustained and nurtured for a long term till they are self-sustained, preventing them from a pests, termites and weeds."
