By: Apurva Bhatt

The BMC is planning to have the data of tress and their species uploaded on their website. Informs Additional municipal commissioner, BMC SVR Srinivas, “"We have covered a large part of the city already and would start with the census of Aarey land shortly with a dedicated team as the area would have a lot of biodiversity. However once the tree census is completed we are planning to make the entire data available online so that researchers or even the general public knows the kind of trees their area boasts off."

 On Tuesday, an approval was given for carrying out tree census in the Aarey land as well by the standing committee which means that one would soon be able to know the number of trees the large green cover in the suburbs boasts off. The approximate cost of mapping the number of trees in Aarey land is Rs. 50 lakhs with the census of each tree likely to cost Rs. 9.90. An external agency has been appointed to map the trees which are doing so through Global Positioning System (GPS). In the ongoing census, which began a year ago, the number of trees recorded in various parts of the city approximately stood at 13, 01,370.