17
Villages around the major cities-Municipal
Corporations have been included in the Urban
Development Zone and their development is
planned by the Urban Development Authority.
Few villages (over 10%) were selected randomly
for tree counting and the data have been
projected to estimate the tree cover in the
areas of Urban Development Authorities. The
tree populations in the areas of eight Urban
Development Authorities have been estimated
in the Table-5.
Tree cover in the villages around Gandhinagar
and Vadodara is very good and it is very poor in
the area of Rajkot Development Authority.
In Gujarat, it is difficult to increase tree cover
beyond a limit in some of the municipal
corporation areas due to non-availability of the
space. The gap of tree cover can be compensated
Table-5: Tree population and tree cover in the area of Urban Development Authorities
Urban Development Authority
Number of
villages
Area in
ha
Total number
of trees
Tree density
per hectare
AUDA (Ahmedabad Urban
Development Authority)
67
59,375
79,5470
13.40
RUDA (Rajkot Urban Development
Authority)
54
56,224
16,6410
2.96
VUDA (Vadodara Urban Development
Authority)
98
55,200 1,814,360
32.87
SUDA (Surat Urban Development
Authority)
94
32,651
464,510
14.23
BADA (Bhavnagar Urban Development
Authority)
15
13,147
180,910
13.76
JUDA (Junagadh Urban Development
Authority)
40
30,722
369,780
12.04
JADA (Jamnagar Urban Development
Authority)
26
24,142
308,390
12.77
GUDA (Gandhinagar Urban
Development Authority)
39
38,800 2,260,100
58.25
Total
433
310,261 6,359,930
20.50
by increasing tree cover in sub-urban and area
under Urban Development Authorities.
There are several lakes/ponds in the villages
around the municipal corporation areas. These
wetlands should be preserved and their status
should be improved by planting suitable trees
like
Ficus
sp., Neem, Jamun, Rayan, Mango and
Deshi babool. Some of these lakes and ponds
can be developed as recreational and tourist
sites by enriching areas raising suitable species
of trees.
Average tree density in the rural areas of Anand
district is above 68 trees/ha. Also, rural areas in
Mehsana and Gandhinagar have an average tree
density of above 50 trees/ha. It is possible to
achieve this level of tree cover under intensive
agro-forestry and horticulture programmes in
the villages around the
Mahanagar Palikas.
9. Status of Trees Cover in the Areas of Urban Development Authorities
