BENGALURU: With as many as 1,036 trees falling in the alignment of KR Puram-Central Silk Board Metro Line, the forest division of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has called for public consultation in November second week. According to BBMP forest division officials, as many as 700-800 trees can be saved by translocation to either parks or nearby empty spaces.
This 19.45-km Outer Ring Road (ORR) Line (Metro Phase 2A) — passing through Mahadevpura, DRDO Sports Complex, Doddenekundi, ISRO, Marathahalli, Kadubeesanahalli, Devarabeesanahalli, Bellandur, Iblur, Agara Lake, and Venkatapura — has 1,036 trees along the median and the entire stretch has been jointly surveyed by BBMP and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). The `4,202-crore fully-elevated line will have 13 stations.
Tree Committee member and urban conservationist Vijay Nishanth says, “Our goal is to save as many trees as possible of the 1,036 on the Silk Board-K R Puram line. Since BMRCL is not ready to tweak its alignment to save this precious tree cover, we have to go in for translocation. In view of massive felling of trees for the Metro project, we have also requested BBMP forest officials to provide us with 1,000 saplings. We are proposing to plant them in affected areas like BTM Road, Kanakapura and Mysuru Roads in the coming days.”
BBMP DCF Chola Raj says, “We will be calling for public consultations next week after a preliminary meeting with BMRCL engineers. According to the law, we have to mandatorily call for public consultation for any project that needs felling of more than 50 trees. As per our survey, 700-800 trees can be saved as they are young (10-15 years old). The trees include pongam, mahogany, Pride of India, Indian cork, among others.” Any decision for translocation will have to be done by BMRCL as they have the staff, machinery and funds, the DCF added. “These young trees have to be relocated to nearby spaces or parks ... but they have to be done by their engineers.”
Meanwhile, tree committee members have appealed to BMRCL to translocate as many trees as possible like it was done along the RV Road-Bommasandra and Gottigere-Nagwara Metro Lines. In fact, hundreds of trees translocated to IIM-B campus, Sri Satya Sai Temple grounds and Lakshman Rao Park have survived and thrived, they added.