The Wild Date Palm (Phoenix sylvestris), commonly known as Shindi and Khajuri in Marathi, is very slow growing palm. As such no nurseries in India propagate these palms because of this. However, the palm is popular because many landscape architects and designers advise their clients to include these in the landscape.
Since self propagated date palms are not available in any nurseries, unscrupulous contractors uproot them from their natural habitat and sell them to the nurseries. These palms are just uprooted without any scientific method. This causes very high mortality in these uprooted palms. Nurserymen plant them in big polythene bags but most die due to the shock. So to cover their losses, nurserymen sell them at exorbitant prices. Each palm with around 4 feet high trunk costs not less than Rs.30000/-. Nurseries are meant to nurture plants and to spread green awareness; but their greed does exact opposite. They are plundering the nature.
Hundreds of these palms are killed in this process. State of Maharashtra boasts that it is the first state in India that promulgated the law to protect the trees. This act prohibits anyone from causing death of any tree by any action, such as, trimming/chopping severely, cutting etc. Even replanting of the trees is not permissible without prior consent of the "Tree Authority". But this act of plundering is conveniently ignored by Tree Authority; and it is an open secret why they do so.
Each of the images below is from a different nursery in Pune district.
Since self propagated date palms are not available in any nurseries, unscrupulous contractors uproot them from their natural habitat and sell them to the nurseries. These palms are just uprooted without any scientific method. This causes very high mortality in these uprooted palms. Nurserymen plant them in big polythene bags but most die due to the shock. So to cover their losses, nurserymen sell them at exorbitant prices. Each palm with around 4 feet high trunk costs not less than Rs.30000/-. Nurseries are meant to nurture plants and to spread green awareness; but their greed does exact opposite. They are plundering the nature.
Hundreds of these palms are killed in this process. State of Maharashtra boasts that it is the first state in India that promulgated the law to protect the trees. This act prohibits anyone from causing death of any tree by any action, such as, trimming/chopping severely, cutting etc. Even replanting of the trees is not permissible without prior consent of the "Tree Authority". But this act of plundering is conveniently ignored by Tree Authority; and it is an open secret why they do so.
Each of the images below is from a different nursery in Pune district.
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| Dying Wild date palms in a nursery |
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| Dead palms in a nursery |
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| Dead palms in a nursery |
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| Heap of dead palms outside a nursery |
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