Mumbai: The proposed felling of 184 trees, including a baobab, for the Coastal Road North Package–A has sparked concern among residents and environmentalists. The trees fall along the stretch of the elevated road from the Versova interchange to Bangur Nagar.
Local residents were alarmed when they found their neighbourhood baobab with a tree-cutting notice pasted on it. This baobab is located on the road divider along Lokhandwala Back Road leading up to the lake. Instead of getting the tree axed, Sanjiv Valsan from Waghoba Foundation has offered to help transplant the tree for the BMC. “Why can’t the BMC simply transplant it? Baobab’s can be easily transplanted since the roots can grow out of a transplant. What stops the BMC from relocating it somewhere?”
While environmentalists have been long protesting against cutting trees and mangroves for the Versova stretch of the coastal road project, the axing of a baobab is particularly significant due to the nature of the tree. The massive deciduous tree, native to Africa, Madagascar and Australia, is famous for its thick water-storing trunk and nutrient rich leaves. However, many baobab species are rare with several of them endangered due to deforestation.
Valsan said that if the BMC lacks the technical expertise to transplant a baobab, his NGO is willing to conduct an assessment, provide a cost estimate, and execute the transplantation with their qualified horticulturist. “This tree is part of Mumbai’s cultural heritage as it was brought here by the Portuguese from Madagascar and represents the city’s living heritage,” he said.
Chronicler Zico Fernandes, who runs the Instagram page Baobabs of Bombay, said that while the 2017 tree census recorded around 120 baobabs in the city, his own documentation found about 66 trees, excluding those within Raj Bhavan and the Mumbai zoo premises. Of these, he said, at least four have been cut in recent years.
“One was lost in April 2024 for the metro road works at Santacruz (W). Since then, we have lost one at Marve Road in March 2024 probably for the road widening. The saddest for me personally was the loss of Baobab at Seepz in August 2025, which I suspect was poisoned because such trees generally don’t disintegrate like that,” said Fernandes.
Preeti Patil, who helped bring attention to the issue, said that along with the baobab notices have also been pasted on a yellow silk cotton tree nearby, another relatively rare species. “It really hurts to see such beautiful trees being cut,” she says.
There is some hope for the citizens with the city’s Tree Committee set for revival on February 25. The committee will comprise 13 elected corporators with the municipal commissioner as chairperson and the standing committee chairperson among its members, along with nominated experts. An official announcement is expected on February 26.