Rooting For Rare, Old Trees

Sitting in his Goregaon home, Almeida is unhappy about the Rs500-crore redevelopment plan proposed for the 150-year-old heritage garden by the civic body.

Last year, the botanist conducted a biodiversity mapping on the 53-acre garden that houses a zoo and concluded that redevelopment should not be undertaken because it would damage the rare and old trees in the garden.

Almeida's view to preserve the garden was echoed by Union minister for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh. On April 7, Ramesh wrote to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan stating that the green space must be maintained for the public and that the botanical garden would be damaged if the plan to house 627 animals was implemented. Read the full report here.

Source: Snehal Rebello, Hindustan Times, Mumbai.