Residents in different parts of Noida on Sunday said the Noida authority has failed to clear branches of trees that broke and fell onto roads after the storm two day, obstructing traffic flow and posing risk to pedestrians. In response, officials said the process will be completed by Tuesday evening.
According to official estimates, at least 1,000 full-grown trees, including Neem, Jamun, Peepal and Alstonia, were affected after a heavy winds, rain and thunderstorm on Friday.
“The trees fell off on sector 76/77 road cause hindrances in traffic. Also in Sector 10 a fully grown tree in C block area caused traffic jam and chaos in the area. The authority didn’t act despite repeated complaints. Also, this damaged tree is posing risks to pedestrians,” said Karan Veer, whose office is located in Sector 10.
Separately, in a letter, the Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (NOFAA), an umbrella body, urged that restoration of uprooted trees in a bid to ensure their survival.
“We have requested for the restoration and replanting of uprooted trees after the recent storm that created havoc in the city. The recent severe storm has unfortunately caused significant damage to our local green cover, resulting in several mature trees being uprooted or severely tilted along the road and Meghdutam park in and around our Sector 50 and other sectors,” Rajiva Singh, founder member of NOFAA, said on Sunday.
Singh further said, “As a community, we are deeply concerned about the loss of these trees, which have taken years to grow and are vital to Noida’s ecosystem and air quality. We understand that many of these uprooted trees might still be viable for restoration (root-pruning and upright replanting) if timely action is taken.”
Noida Authority officials said on Sunday that most of the trees that were obstructing roads had been cleared.
“We have cleared roads so that the smooth flow of traffic can be ensured. Now our teams are busy cutting the branches of the uprooted trees so that these can be taken to our storage. These uprooted trees are lying in green belts, parks and other public spaces except the key roads. We will make sure these damaged trees are taken care of by Tuesday evening. We are sad that the recent storm has damaged ecology and our green cover. To address this issue of loss we will plant more trees,” said Anand Mohan, director horticulture department of the Noida Authority, told HT.
Residents and AOAs, meanwhile, officially volunteered to assist the department. “Our community is ready to assist the horticulture department in the following ways: providing manual volunteer support to assist your ground staff, helping coordinate logistics or watering schedules post-replanting,” said R Sahay, general secretary of NOFAA.
