The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) wants to transplant over 1,800 trees which are inside what used to be the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) complex, as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project.
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CPWD is yet to seek permission from the Delhi Forest Department, but it has already made its intent clear by floating a tender to transplant these trees.
A tree cannot be transplanted by simply uprooting it and placing it in a pit dug elsewhere. The process involves multiple steps and requires significant expertise.
First, the soil around the tree is dug up to isolate the roots. The big branches are lopped off, leaving only small shoots for regeneration. This is done to make transportation of the tree to the new location easier.
The root system is covered with wet gunny bags to protect the roots and to keep the tree hydrated. The tree has to be first sent to a nursery to acclimatise to a new kind of soil, and to regenerate.
Once new shoots start sprouting, the tree is lowered into a pit created in its new spot.
