Green Belt Development for Industries in Chembur, Mumbai.

Industrial plants towards Trombay and Mahul (refineries, fertiliser works, a power station) generally carry green-belt clauses, and those belts grow in harsh conditions: salt wind off the harbour, reclaimed or compacted ground, and emissions. Species must cope with all three. We walk the belt, count the living trees, rebuild failing soil, and plant natives hardy against salt and smoke, densest along the edge that faces housing. Survival is recorded each year, since that is what inspectors check.

Chembur is one of Mumbai's older eastern suburbs, with tree-lined residential colonies, markets and gymkhanas, many of its housing societies dating from the decades after independence. To its east the land runs towards Trombay and Mahul, where fertiliser, refinery and power plants stand near the harbour, and the atomic research centre occupies the hill. The Eastern Freeway and the monorail pass through. Old societies are being rebuilt as towers, and slum rehabilitation projects rise at the edges. It remains a leafy residential district, with heavy industry only a few kilometres away.