NEW DELHI: The bureaucratic limbo in New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) forced the civic body’s tree ambulance project to remain in a deadlock for over three years now. The halted project is yet to see the light of the day because of the apathy of the transport department.
The project was paused after the registration of the sole vehicle used to run the scheme expired in 2019. Since then, there have been multiple attempts to restart the scheme but the file kept shifting to various departments to receive approval, said officials.
A transport department official informed that the department received the proposal in 2020 to procure the vehicle and equipment required for the tree ambulance. The demand was raised by the horticulture wing of NDMC asking for the department its approval.
“The horticulture department sought our approval for the purchase of a vehicle and other equipment. Since it involved finances, we forwarded the request to the finance department which returned the proposal telling us that the horticulture can’t be allowed to procure a vehicle. We have conveyed the horticulture to draft a fresh proposal for us,”
However, the department took more than two years only to return the proposal to the horticulture conveying two sentences of information: Gain administrative approval and estimated sanction for the project. “The transport department will only procure the vehicle and handover to the horticulture,” said officials.
They said, “We made zero progress in these years. The department could have informed earlier. The project would be resumed and fully operational by now.” However, the whole project was run by a single vehicle. This time, the proposal has been made for two tree ambulances.
Satish Upadhyay, vice chairperson, NDMC, said the civic body will expedite the project to restart on priority. “I know much time has passed but we are trying to expedite it on priority. It will be restarted very soon,” he added.
The civic body launched the tree ambulance scheme in 2009 under plan protection cell of the horticulture department. The people involved in it identify sick trees in need of urgent care and nurture them.
This time, two vehicles, comparatively smaller than previous one, has been proposed to cover North and South zone of the NDMC.