THE FUTURE OF TREES IN VILE PARLE EAST

It is a matter of pride for Parlekars that almost every street in Vile Parle East is shaded by large, old trees. Every lane has at least one unique tree. For example- right in the middle of traffic island on Hanuman Road, opposite Cafe Coffee day we have a majestic Shammi tree. And Vastu- Shobha folks have been kind enough to put a wire mesh around it to protect it.

A slow but steady de- treeing process is happening, however. First- the whole of Hanuman Road was concretised- now that has become a hot, sunny road. Then Nehru road followed suit. Then it was Mahatma Gandhi road. Slowly all roads will get concretised- old trees will get trapped into concrete barriers. I think they will weaken and die slowly or collapse suddenly. And During concretisation no space has been left for planting new trees. One good samaritan on Chittaranjan Road managed to save this tree by negotiating with authorities to leave some space around its roots. And he spent his own money to build a protection around it.

Lucky Tree on Chittaranjan Road

Many buildings in Vile Parle East are going into re-development. During this process most trees in and around the plot get cut. Trees in the building area, trees obstructing view, trees with deep and spread out roots and trees which obstruct well water access- which means almost all large trees are cut. The rule says that equal number of trees have to be planted by the builder before applying for OC. In reality- there is really no space to plant trees. Every permitted square inch is occupied by the building. Rest of it is converted into parking area. Now even underground parking is done. So just for name sake the builder puts ‘trees’. We see all manner of dwarf palms, frangipani, miniature ficus, etc. These trees are unable to provide the ecological services of temperature control, habitat- provision, water retention and soil conservation. They also die out in few years because the climate in Mumbai is totally inappropriate for them.  Thus the future of trees in Vile Parle East is indeed very grim. 

I feel some solution needs to be thought out soon- at this rate Vile Parle East will become a tree- less hot, dusty and dry place- also lifeless because there will be no place for the birds, insects and squirrels to live. One solutions strikes me as being pratical- large trees on roads- they will get enough space to spread above and under the ground. And medium sized but native trees in building compound. Buildings should be demarcated by use of hedges rather than walls, as they are more environment- friendly