Japanese forest Miyawaki now comes to BKC

Activist protests and asks why is MMRDA not transplanting trees affected by Metro work

“

We get a 100% native, 100% organic and a 100-year-old forest in just 10 years.” PRADEEP TRIPATHI Green Yatra

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has floated a tender for tree plantation on the lines of the Japanese Miyawaki me

Experts and activists, however, have a different opinion regarding this initiative. Zoru Bhathena, who campaigned against the previous BJP government’s decision to hack trees at Aarey Colony, said he personally thinks it is more of a hype because they can start with 100 trees being planted in a compact area but eventually only a few trees will survive after they grow.

Bhathena said if one is planting 100 shrubs then they will remain 100 shrubs. “It depends on which trees are being planted. Secondly, if MMRDA has a vacant place in BKC why don’t they transplant the huge beautiful trees that are being affected due to Metro work,” the activist asked. MMRDA said the plantation is a part of compensatory afforestation in lieu of the different Metro projects and other big infrastructure projects that it is carrying out currently.

The stretch of road along the family court at BKC has around 20-30 trees along the divider that need to be transplanted due to the Metro Line 2 work. At a meeting in 2018, it was suggested to transplant these full-grown trees at a nearby place.

Pradeep Tripathi, one of the founder members of Green Yatra, an NGO which has been experimenting and developing Miyawaki method dense forest across India, is of the belief, though, that it is an ideal way to do plantations in urban areas with space crunch.

Tripathi said forests created under Miyawaki grow 10 times faster, 30 times denser, with 100 times greater biodiversity, 30 times better carbon-dioxide absorption, 30 times better noise and dust reduction, 30 times greener surface area, as compared to a monoculture plantation. “So, we get a 100 per cent native, 100 per cent organic and a 100-year-old forest in just 10 years,” he said, adding that four lakh trees have been planted by his NGO in the MMR region.