The Hindu : New Delhi News : NDMC wakes up to threat faced by Lutyens' green

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 22, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

NDMC wakes up to threat faced by Lutyens' green

Staff Reporter

88 trees uprooted, many more broken in Friday's dust storm

ROOT MATTERS: Trees uprooted during the storm over the weekend at the Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi. Photo: V.V.Krishnan

NEW DELHI: The dust storm that swept the Capital this past Friday may have lasted only about 20 minutes, but it left behind a trail of destruction in the form of 88 uprooted trees and 300 more with broken branches in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi. Given the scale of damage and destruction, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to set up a Disaster Management Core Group to tackle the situation and take remedial steps.

Earlier this week, NDMC Chairperson Sindhusree Khullar convened a meeting of senior officials to review the position. The various departments were directed to join hands and address problems arising due to the flattening of a large number of roadside trees between Rajpath and Kautilya Marg and between Lodhi Road and Sardar Patel Marg-South Avenue crossing. Most of the trees that fell were neem, imli, semal, kijelia or pilkhan and were between 60 and 70 years old.

Though NDMC has taken the initiative to plant new saplings in their place, it will actually take a long time for the loss to be compensated. However, NDMC claimed that most of these trees were hollow and had outlived their life.

The worst affected areas included Prithvi Raj Road and Prithvi Raj Lane, Amrita Shergil Marg, Motilal Nehru Marg, Lodhi Estate and Jor Bagh. Besides, the colony parks of Golf Link area also suffered huge loss of trees. While 50 trees fell by the roadside, 38 were found uprooted in parks, and of these 88 as many as 25 were neem trees. The branches of another 331 trees were found broken.

The famed Lodhi Garden suffered the maximum damage: 37 trees were completely uprooted here while 71 lost many of their branches. A popular place for morning and evening walkers and a venue that often plays host to musical concerts, the park lost quite some greenery in the storm.

To tackle the situation, NDMC has initiated a number of steps that include directing the Horticulture Department to depute additional staff for removing obstructions from the roads for allowing smooth flow of traffic. While already around 250 truckloads of wood-logs, branches and leaves have been lifted, another 1,600 truckloads of horticultural waste are being lifted.

To compensate the loss of the trees, the NDMC has also decided to plant similar trees in the affected areas before the onset of the monsoon. It has also decided to give balance and shape to the existing trees by resorting to proper pruning and removal of dead and diseased branches to minimise loss during storms in future.

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