new delhi: The efforts to clear uprooted trees and fallen branches continued in Lutyens' Delhi on Wednesday. Delhi lost over 290 trees, some of them decades-old, during Monday's fierce thunderstorm, prompting the civic agencies to launch special drives to clear the city roads.
MCD, NDMC and DDA swung to action immediately to clear any blocked roads and clean the areas under their jurisdiction. However, fallen branches and debris remain on roads even two days after the thunderstorm indicating the onset of monsoon in the Capital. As per official reports, over 700 trees, branches, etc were uprooted in Delhi. Officials from the civic bodies claim that workers have been on ground since the storm ended and are doing their best to clear any leftover debris.
MCD officials said that the collected timber will be used in the crematoriums run by the corporation. Timber will be made available to other private crematoriums as well through an e-auction process set up by the MCD. The civic body received a total of 155 complaints of trees falling between 9 pm on Monday to 3pm on Tuesday.
NDMC officials have not clarified how they plan to use the fallen branches and trees, but they are likely to follow MCDs footsteps and utilize the material for crematoriums run by them. As per their reports, 77 trees fell in the Lutyens Delhi area.
NDMC Chairman Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, along with NDMC member Kuljeet Singh Chahal visited the affected areas shortly after the downpour. Chahal recommended that a compensatory tree plantation drive be made to recuperate the green assets of the area. His suggestions included planting 10 trees in compensation for each damaged tree. Along with this, recommendation to constitute a Quick Response Team to study the causes of uprooting of the tree and a coordination group that can be dispatched immediately after any such ecological event.
Officials from the MCD and NDMC have stated that any leftover debris will be cleaned within the week and they are working on ensuring that their teams are ready to handle any such future incidents.