MMRDA plants over 51,000 trees on degraded forest land in Maha

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has planted over 51,000 trees in Maharashtra's Thane district to maintain the green cover and save forests from getting degraded.

The MMRDA, which faced flak recently from activists over felling of nearly 2,000 trees in Aarey Colony of neighbouring Mumbai to build a Metro car shed, said such plantation activities would also help to compensate for any loss of green cover in future due to infrastructural work.

Under the 'green initiative', 51,151 trees have been planted on 46 hectares of degraded forest land in Kalyan- Shilphata area of Thane, MMRDA Commissioner R A Rajeev said on Tuesday.

All the trees have been planted taking into consideration the ecological balance. Most of the trees are extremely good for the environment, he said.

"All these trees are endemic to Maharashtra. Our efforts are to ensure that the forest should not be degraded at any cost. Our main aim is to maintain the minimum requirement of 33 per cent green cover," he added.

He said the MMRDA was also taking plantation activities in advance for any projects that might require axing of trees in the coming years.

The cost of plantation and maintenance of each tree for three years is around Rs 1,227, the MMRDA said in a statement.