We need a policy to transplant or replant trees coming under the development axe
On Thursday, concerned citizens and environmentalists saved a 40-year-old rain tree located near the Carvalho petrol pump at the entrance of the Mapusa-Parra road from being cut.
What a sigh of relief it was for the commercial town when the authorities agreed not to axe the tree, which has a sprawling canopy. The tree was saved after Advocate General Devidas Pangam reportedly issued instructions to the PWD following the environmentalists seeking his intervention. If not for the group of environmentalists and AG, the tree would have been lost forever. The authorities had decided to cut it and many others to make way for the widening of the Mapusa-Parra road. The PWD had sanctioned 21 trees. Environmentalists who know the tricks of some departments said that 27 trees had been marked for felling. Some trees have already been cut.
The PWD also assured that around 60 saplings would be planted as part of compensatory replantation. It is to be seen what type of trees they plant and how they ensure the survival of the saplings. More than a decade ago, some 50 coconut trees were felled for road widening along the same (Mapusa-Parra) stretch, but no one has seen either the relocated coconut trees or new ones planted again as part of the compensatory replantation. Over the years, some departments planted hundreds of saplings, but the question remains: Is there any record to show how many have survived and grown to become trees? Maintaining them is not easy. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.
The confrontation between bulldozers of progress and the guardians of nature is nothing new in Goa. From the time a major push was given for “development”, around 25 years ago, we hear of more and more such cases. The departments concerned, with the backing of their political masters, have succeeded in eliminating many trees even from the towns where a green canopy is most needed.
Goa lacks sustainable urban planning, and our towns are evidence of this. Being a small state, our towns could have been planned meticulously.
The government doesn’t miss any opportunity to criticise environmentalists, but it is because of them and concerned citizens that much of our greenery and heritage still exists. The present dispensation has created a perception that the environmentalists are against the ruling party. But the fact is that they had been as severe as they are now against the Congress government too. How otherwise was the government forced to scrap the Regional Plan in 2006? Ironically, leaders of the present ruling party were in the past entirely in support of the very environmentalists who are still active.
Shouldn’t trees be cut for road widening? “We are not against road widening. But cutting trees unnecessarily is unacceptable. Development must come with responsibility and respect for nature,” was what a well-known environmentalist said recently. Transplanting the trees uprooted for “development” purposes or planning the planting of new ones should be the norm to maintain the green cover.
Goa needs to have a policy or guidelines by which trees coming in the way of road widening could be transplanted if possible and more planted to make up for the trees lost. Authorities must ensure that saplings planted survive to become trees. The latest technology should be explored to ensure that the transplanted trees do not die. The authorities also need to have community engagement to promote biodiversity and encourage green infrastructure.
