PWD makes trees choke on concrete

NEW DELHI: If you are worried about trees facing a hostile environment in the city, here is some more grim news. Many old trees across the city are struggling to survive as their roots are being choked by concrete. One such stretch is on Press Enclave Road where a number of Alstonia or Saptaparni trees are getting choked with concrete and cement tiles as part of Delhi government's pavement construction project, undertaken by PWD.

In complete violation of a 2009 Delhi high court order that a 'breathing space' of 6ft circumference must be left around a tree, PWD workers had sealed the entire space with cement and tiles. Alert members of an NGO, Compassionate Living, intervened and demanded that the workers dig out the concrete immediately. They also called the police to the spot and informed the forest department.

On Tuesday, when a TOI team visited the spot, many trees were still choked by cement and tiles. "Choking the earth with cement and topping with badarpur and tiles is an unsustainable practice that must be stopped immediately. It is a threat to groundwater recharge and survival of trees besides being a sheer waste of public funds. Porous tiles must be used if tiling is unavoidable," said Padmavati Dwivedi of the NGO. Dwivedi has also found many trees - including that of Neem, Arjun and Pilkhan - in front of a school in Saket that are choking because of very less space around them. A pavement project by MCD has left hardly a 2ft circumference space for large trees.

The forest department agreed that the project had violated the HC order. "We will not allow them to continue with the laying of concrete around these trees. Delhi Tree Authority will also circulate the rule of leaving a 6ft breathing space among agencies involved in development works in Delhi," said Sanjiv Kumar, secretary, environment and forests. PWD officials have been alerted. "We are digging out the concrete. Now a space of 6 by 6 ft will be made around the trees," said a PWD official. However, the space that has been created for some trees on Tuesday seemed far smaller than 6ft.

Concrete pavements don't just put a strain on trees but can be bad news for groundwater recharge. The rain water is not able to seep in through the concrete pavement, leading to gradual death of the trees and drying up of underground aquifers. "There is a clear correlation between porosity of soil and groundwater recharge. When it rains, the water permeates to the underground aquifers and the excess rain goes away as run-off to the stormwater drains and later to the river. But, concretization across NCR has gone up and a huge amount of recharge zone is lost. A lot of low-lying areas have also encroached on water bodies. This creates a flooding mess every monsoon," said Bharat Lal Seth, deputy programme manager, water policy, at Centre for Science and Environment.

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