Delhi’s Trees Are Dying Under Concrete: Monsoon Tragedy Exposes Urban Blunder!
Heavy rains topple trees, claiming lives and spotlighting the deadly impact of concretisation in the capital.
Thursday’s torrential downpour in Delhi brought more than flooded streets and traffic chaos; it triggered a devastating loss of the city’s green cover, with over 25 trees collapsing across the capital. A tragic incident in Kalkaji, where a fallen tree crushed a car, killed a 50-year-old man and left his daughter critically injured, underscoring a deeper, man-made issue: concretisation.
Environmentalists point to the widespread practice of sealing tree bases with concrete for pavements and road medians as a primary culprit. “Concretisation is the main reason behind these repeated tree falls,” said Sunil Kumar Aledia, Executive Director of the Centre for Holistic Development. He noted that despite the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) 2013 directive to maintain a one-meter unpaved radius around trees, implementation remains inconsistent. Aledia highlighted that blackened tree barks in Delhi signal severe nutrient deprivation.
Aakiz Farooq of Greenpeace India explained that trees in natural settings like parks rarely fall, unlike roadside trees with roots trapped under concrete. “Concretisation restricts root growth, blocking water and oxygen, weakening trees over time,” he said. During monsoons, swollen trunks and shallow roots, constricted by concrete, make trees vulnerable to collapse.
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Environmentalist Verhaen Khanna added that cement prevents trunk expansion and exacerbates instability when roots are severed by roadwork. Urban planners note that while unpaved tree bases face encroachment or littering, prompting civic bodies to seal them for maintenance, this practice compromises tree stability.
The Kalkaji tragedy highlights a grim reality: Delhi’s trees are losing an underground battle against concrete long before they fall. As environmentalists and urban planners urge stricter enforcement and public awareness, the city’s green cover remains at risk, with monsoons exposing the fatal consequences of poor urban planning.
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