The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has begun the transplantation of trees to make way for widening of Jayamahal Road in a “scientific manner”. As many as 42 trees will be transplanted in the first phase, officials said.
Though the proposal to widen the 2.5 km Jayamahal Road from Mehkri Circle to Cantonment Bridge is two years old, the fate of 112 trees on Jayamahal Road and 260 on Ballari Road has been a stumbling block. The High Court of Karnataka had set September as deadline for the BBMP to widen Jayamahal Road, along with a 2-km stretch of Ballari Road between Mehkri Circle and BDA junction.
The BBMP had scheduled to start widening in 2011. But yielding to protests, some trees were left and concreted in the middle of the partially-widened road. The proposal would integrate the acquired portion of the Palace Grounds with the existing four-lane road.
Ideal time
“We are transplanting 42 trees in the first phase. They will be transplanted to the footpath on the same road. This is the ideal time for transplantation as it is raining and plant growth is active now,” said B.S. Prahalad, Chief Engineer (Major Roads), BBMP.
He added that the BBMP would study how many of the remaining trees can be transplanted in the second phase.
HAL Airport Road
In another part of the city where residents have taken to the streets to protest felling of trees, the BBMP’s “solution” is getting more brickbats than bouquets.
The signal-free project coming up on HAL Airport Road is expected to result in the death of 60 trees (46 have already been cut). Over the last few days, residents have been noticing new trees coming up on footpaths and medians, which they suspect to be replacements for the felled ones, and they are not happy.
“When we protested against cutting down trees, the BBMP came up with the brilliant idea of planting trees on the newly laid footpaths along the Old Airport Road. Now, where do we walk?” asked one citizen, venting her ire on social media. Amaranth John, another resident, also pointed out that the new trees had come up on the median of the same road.
‘Lack of urban tree policy’
In the wake of over 70 trees being uprooted in the city during Friday’s downpour, one of them claiming three lives, environmentalist Yellappa Reddy blamed the lack of an urban tree policy. “Urban tree management techniques are different from forest tree management. In an urban landscape, there are many constraints for a tree to survive – cables, nearby drainage, branches mercilessly cut for electricity lines. The type of injuries trees undergo is easily around 3,000 wounds in the urban ecosystem. The amount of stress is enormous and they become weak,” he said.
In the case HAL Airport Road, for example, the trees coming up on footpaths and medians will get choked as they will not get space to spread their roots and soak up enough water. As for the transplantation on Jayamahal Road, Mr. Reddy said it is like a “major surgery on a living body” for which precautions need to be taken before and after the operation.
