The civic body and the state forest department will soon carry out a joint inspection of nearly 200 trees identified as dead or dangerously leaning, following a recent survey along key arterial roads.
A survey conducted in July along major roads such as Vivekananda Road, SN Banerjee Road, Harish Mukherjee Road, and Rashbehari Avenue identified 170 leaning trees, 28 dead ones, and 12 with damaged trunks or bases. Some trees were also found with damaged roots, where surrounding concrete had prevented proper root expansion.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials noted that some trees, though appearing healthy from the outside, had hollow trunks, posing a serious risk.
“We have noticed such trees on Harish Mukherjee Road and Rashbehari Avenue. There is a possibility they could topple in case of a gust of wind,” said a civic official. “These trees can be dangerous. After trees are uprooted in storms, we often find large hollow spaces inside the trunks.”
The KMC has proposed a joint inspection with the forest department before deciding on any felling, especially for trees that are leaning or diseased.
“We have proposed a joint inspection of over 200 trees that were identified as dead, leaning, diseased or with damaged trunks and roots,” a KMC official said.
A forest department official said they had asked for a detailed list of trees with GPS coordinates, which the KMC will provide ahead of the joint inspection. Both agencies emphasised that pedestrian safety would be a key factor in determining the course of action.
Civic and forest department officials added that while felling is the only option for dead trees, some leaning
trees and those with hollow trunks may also need to be removed. Harish Mukherjee Road alone has over 30 leaning trees.
Mayor Firhad Hakim had ordered the survey in July, following the deaths of three people in Calcutta and Howrah after trees collapsed.
Two employees of the Howrah Municipal Corporation were killed when a euca-
lyptus tree fell on the office premises in early July. In May, a man resting under a tree at Rabindra Sarobar was crushed to death when it collapsed.
The KMC is also planning a city-wide tree count and health study. A tender will soon be floated to select an organisation for the project, which will cover all 16 boroughs.
A similar survey in 2014 covered only four boroughs and the counts included only pavement trees, not those within private premises, a KMC official said.