Mumbai – While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced the ‘Vruksha Sanjeevani’ campaign from 1 April 2026 to protect the city’s 29.75 lakh trees, Surajya Abhiyan has termed the initiative as a “superficial treatment” and a mere “photo event”.
The organisation asserts that de-choking trees and removing nails are not voluntary acts of service, but mandatory legal obligations under the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The widespread practice of hammering thousands of nails into trees for advertisements, and pouring concrete up to their trunks, thereby choking them and obstructing their natural growth constitutes a direct violation of the Maharashtra Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, as well as specific NGT orders.
Surajya Abhiyan has demanded that, instead of limiting the initiative to awareness programmes, the administration must register First Information Reports (FIRs) and initiate strict penal action against those responsible. In this regard, formal memorandums have been submitted to the Mayor and Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai, following similar representations already made in Nagpur, Jalgaon and Satara.
Highlighting the severity of the issue, Surajya Abhiyan pointed out that the environmental situation across the state is alarming. In Mumbai alone, 17.43 kg of nails and 1,460 illegal advertisement boards were removed from trees over the past year. Despite High Court directives mandating a one-metre unpaved (raw earth) area around every tree, thousands continue to remain encased in concrete during road development and metro works.
“It is a matter of grave concern that despite such large-scale destruction of green cover, the administration has failed to file cases against any advertiser or contractor,” said Shri. Abhishek Murukate, Maharashtra State Coordinator of Surajya Abhiyan. He further stated that the weakening of tree roots due to lack of oxygen is the primary reason for trees falling during the monsoon, a situation directly attributable to administrative negligence.
Outlining its demands, Surajya Abhiyan stated that the concrete surrounding trees must be removed at the cost of the guilty contractors under the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Such contractors should not merely be issued notices but must be immediately blacklisted from future projects. Additionally, the requirement of maintaining a one-metre unpaved space around trees must be made mandatory in all government tenders, and violations should result in withholding of contractor payments.
The organisation further demanded that the state government immediately issue orders to implement the ‘Vruksha Sanjeevani’ campaign effectively across Maharashtra, rather than restricting it to a single city. The administration must strictly enforce the law instead of treating the campaign as a one-day event. A permanent legal mechanism must be established to ensure that trees across the state can breathe freely.
“Until a genuine fear of the law is instilled among rule-violating commercial establishments and contractors, our tree wealth will never truly be safe,” said Shri. Abhishek Murukate, Coordinator of Surajya Abhiyan.