New Town authorities replanting felled trees across township

Authorities of the New Town satellite township, a showpiece hub housing new IT companies and health care facilities near here, have started a replanting operation to save "as many trees as possible", that bore the brunt of cyclone 'Amphan', NKDA chief Debasish Sen said on Tuesday. An estimated 400 green casualties were reported in the township due to the high-velocity winds of the extremely severe cyclone on Wednesday.

Newtown Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) Chairman Debashis Sen told PTI, already 100 trees, which had been uprooted in parks, median strips and elsewhere in several action areas of the township during the cyclone have been replanted. The initial response is that the trees have survived the replantation exercise, he said.

"Many trees were uprooted in the storm partly reducing the green cover of New Town. So far we have estimated the number as 400. We are working on war footing to replant as many trees that is possible. And we have to act immediately. Or else the trees will die," he said.

Sen said, though there are 38,000 trees planted across the sprawling satellite city area, the number of 400 uprooted trees is not a small figure as the "destruction of every single tree is unfortunate". "We will shortly organise a webinar where our officials, forest experts and environmentalists will chalk out a plan for reclaiming the lost green cover in New Town in a proper and systematic manner," he said.

Saplings will also be planted in demarcated areas besides this drive, he said. Asked about the reduction in green cover due to the cyclone in Kolkata Municipal Corporation areas, former Mayor- in-Council (Parks) and currently member Board of Administrators Debashis Kumar said, "Yes it was a great loss.

But we will soon think about how to start the plantation drive again. As of now our priority is to clear roads." Firhad Hakim, chairman of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's board of administrators, said that a "record number of 5,500 trees", several of which were were over 50 years old, were uprooted by the storm. "I will sit with forest and environment officials and horticulturists on May 30 to discuss the road map so that we can bring back the green cover.

"I don't want to see Southern Avenue bereft of trees, or Ballygunje Circular Road (both in south Kolkata) without its green foliage. Other parts of the city should also have adequate green cover," Hakim said. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority is also relocating and replanting trees in Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar areas, the two large waterbodies in South and North Kolkata respectively.

"We have estimated that around 200 trees were uprooted in Rabindra Sarobar. One hundred of the fallen trees will be replanted for which the process has been initiated," senior KMDA official Sudhin Nandy said. Several individuals and organisations like environmentalist S M Ghosh (who is closely involved in Save Rabindra Sarobar campaign), green forum Sabuj Mancha are also working towards planting/relocating trees in different areas.

"We have to be careful that trees are not planted in a haphazard manner which make them vulnerable to wind speed of even 60-70 km per hour. "If roots cannot go much beyond the concrete surface of footpaths, trees grow upwards but have weak base. 'Amphan' was different but in the past we had seen many trees uprooted even during nor'westers. This is due to indiscriminate tree plantation without consulting experts," Ghosh said.

He said, for one tree lost 10 trees need to be planted but in a proper way..

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