It wasn’t just about saving trees, but also getting the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to include citizens and follow the law when it comes to tree felling.
Several residents formed a human chain around trees marked to be cut for the signal-free corridor on Old Airport Road on Sunday. While 46 trees have already been cut near the ISRO junction in an operation under the cover of darkness last week, residents galvanised into action to ensure nearly 60 healthy trees near Suranjan Das Road junction remain untouched.
The message was clear: It takes three hours to bring down a tree, but 30 years to grow it anew.
ADVERTISEMENT
“These are old trees, and cutting them for an ill-conceived project makes no sense. Nearly 60 trees are marked, and cutting them all will see the road width increase by a few metres. We know this will not solve the traffic congestion on the road,” said M. Amarnath John, a resident of K.R. Garden.
The protest sought to bring to the attention of the BBMP that citizens will not stand by as the law is subverted. The Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act states that projects felling more than 50 trees must first go through public consultation.
However, the ₹140-crore signal-free corridor project, which involves three underpasses, is being cleared by the BBMP’s Forest Cell by dividing the project into sections where less than 50 trees will be cut.
ADVERTISEMENT
“One of the terms for the permission given under the Act states that it can cancelled if there are objections from the public. Residents are clearly protesting. We want a public consultation for this project for us to air our views,” said Mr. John.
The last time any public consultation was done was in February 2016 after the previous public consultation meeting over a proposal to cut more than 300 trees for Namma Metro Phase II extensions on Mysuru Road and Kanakapura Road failed.
Since then, BMRCL has felled trees at Silk Board junction and Kanakapura Road without permission, while, the BBMP felled trees on Old Airport Road in a similar manner.
“This is a clear violation of the court order, and with the Old Airport Project, we have proof that more than 50 trees are being cut by dividing them into smaller parcels ... We will take the legal route to stop this,” said Vijay Nishanth, a tree conservationist who was part of the tree committee set up to oversee the felling of trees for metro Phase II.
The committee has since virtually wound as a meeting has not been called for over a year.
BBMP Forest Cell officials said permission was not yet given for the felling of trees near Suranjan Das Road junction, and that permissions were given based on the requests of the BBMP engineers. Determined to keep a watchful eye on the trees that are slated to be felled, residents have conducted a tree census where nearly 50 trees have been enumerated.
The height of the trees range from 10 m to even 30 m (or the equivalent to a six-storeyed building), while in girth, the trees measures75 m to nearly 5 m. Of the 50 trees, 35 belong to the expansive rain-tree species.
Taking to Facebook, retired IFS officer and a person largely credited with greening major roads of the city, S.G. Negihal, said the trees had been planted under his supervision in 1984–85. “I never thought they would end like this,” he said.