BENGALURU: As the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is proposing to construct a parallel road along the existing Sankey Bridge Road to decongest traffic, environmentalists are asking the government to give them a final list of how many trees will be axed in total in the city.
Urban mobility experts, Malleswaram residents and IISc professors are opposing the idea. Prof TV Ramachandra from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, said the land which the government is terming as not a lake land was actually a part of the water body. It dried up when the road was constructed. “Why is the government thinking of decongesting Bengaluru, when it cannot think of developing the outskirts? The government should first answer how many trees will be removed for this,” he said.
Tree expert Vijay Nishanth said the government should make public the list of trees to be axed in total and for what. Prof Ashish Verma, associate professor, Civil Engineering, IISc, said, “We did a study and found that reducing the traffic signal time at junctions is the solution to decongest traffic. But the government wants to construct more. This will only shift the problem and not solve the traffic menace.”
Mobility experts pointed out that the traffic police and commuters should follow the Manipur model, where lane discipline is followed strictly. Gopal Rao, a member of Malleswaram Resident Welfare Association, said a similar project was proposed earlier too, but was shelved after citizens protested against cutting of trees. But the green cover was lost even then. “The less we talk about the environment better it is, as the government is not concerned. Traffic is high, but for everything, axing trees is not a solution,” he added.