BENGALURU: Seamless connectivity to Kempegowda International Airport: cost — over 800 trees; extension of parts of Namma Metro Phase II: cost — over 300 trees.
Trees have invariably become the first casualty of ‘development’ works – be it the Namma Metro project, road widening projects, the TenderSURE project or new flyovers.
The latest to join the rather long list is the contentious steel flyover to the airport. Citizens from all over the city have come out all guns blazing to coax or coerce the government to snuff out the proposal. On the chopping block are 812 trees, of which the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) can translocate only 56.
Though the BDA plans to make up for the loss by planting 60,000 trees, it has failed to pacify citizens and environmentalists as the compensatory locations will be spread across the city and the species chosen will not be the same as the ones that face the axe.
Similar protests have been taking place in the south of Bengaluru to protect the Lakshman Rau Park, which has lost out portions to make way for the Namma Metro project.
Environmentalist Yellappa Reddy blames the lack of application of mind for the excessive loss of green cover. “Nobody had thought that Bengaluru would grow like this. They (the government and civic agencies) should have the seriousness to convince the people if there is a need to cut trees. But the decision to cut a 20-year-old tree is made in 20 minutes and carried out in two hours,” he pointed out.
Vinay K. Sreenivasa of Hasiru Usiru says, “There are two reasons why trees are being increasingly sacrificed: one, there is no will to reduce private vehicles and increase support to BMTC. The focus is mega infrastructure projects, such as the metro, flyovers, elevated roads. Trees are sacrificed because policy-makers do not wish to see the long-term impact.”
There have been a few measures to address the issue, among them the newly formed tree committee, which is supposed to give its verdict on projects that involve the felling of 50 trees or more. However, a few members said that not all civic agencies are routing such proposals through them, defeating the purpose of having such committees.
People Speak
“Bengaluru was once famous as the ‘Garden City of India’. It is losing its green cover at an alarming pace. Development must not happen at the cost of destruction,” says Ajay Athreya R, Jayanagar 8th Block.
Expert Speak
“It is a simple thing that they never have a participatory and integrated approach. Right now, what is being done is independent designing which includes only land acquisition and no other logistics,” says Harini Nagendra, Professor of Sustainability, Azim Premji University.
