City’s ‘Tree Census’ to take 7 more months to complete
| Date :30-Aug-2023 |
By Kaushik Bhattacharya
The Tree Census of Nagpur city, that commenced in the month of April this year, will take seven more months to complete. It was supposed to be completed by March 2024, but due to some technical reasons, the date of completion has been extended to October 2024. When the project was launched in April this year, the then Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B announced that the process will take 11 months. However, senior officials of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) are saying that the completion of the process will require more time. “The previous tree census took place 12 years ago. The green cover of the city has increased since then. We have limited man power to count each and every tree in the city. There are 32 different attributes of every tree which need to be measured. Checking all of them is a time consuming task,” Ravindra Bhelawe, Deputy Commissioner, Garden Department, told ‘The Hitavada’. The first tree census was done by NMC in the year 2011, according to which the number of trees in Nagpur city was 21,43,838.
Instead of involving NGOs, Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), or citizen groups to map the city’s trees -- which are approximately 25 lakh at present -- NMC gave contract for the tree census to a Mumbai-based private company named Terracon Ecotech Pvt Ltd. “We have already mapped more than one lakh trees in different parts of the city in these four months. The company is geotagging the trees with the help of state of the art technology. But we are facing issue to stick QR code to trees as we can’t nail the trees to stick the QR code that gives information about the tree,” said Bhelawe. However, due to this development, the environment experts are raising question over the announcement that NMC made in the beginning that information and the number of heritage trees, its approximate age, and photographs will be provided on every tree which will be available in public domain. “NMC told that all information will be available in public domain and also on every tree. If NMC is not sticking any QR code on trees then how people will get details about the real time data of the tree and the green cover of the city?” asked Sachin Khobragade, ex-tree committee member.
At present, the number of trees in Nagpur is estimated to be more than 25 lakhs. The city is extended in an area of 222 sq. kms, as per the new ward structure of Nagpur city and including the villages Hudakeshwar and Narsala. Khobragade also raised question over the process in counting of the age of a tree by the company. He said, “The age of many trees which are situated in private land, is counting without the notified formula. The volunteers just ask the land owner about the tree’s age and on the basis of the person’s information they include it in their data.” Tree Census was pending since long. Good that at least, the process has started. It is an uphill task, hence, going to take significant time, but the entire process needs to be time bound. If properly executed, it can act as a milestone for formulating future environmental strategies, said Kaustav Chatterjee, ex-tree committee member and Founder of Green Vigil Foundation. “Nagpur has been flooded with tree plantation programmes since last census done in 2011, the final figure will explain the success rate of such plantation programmes. Most importantly, the facts about compensatory plantation will also come to light,” said Chatterjee.