HYDERABAD: It doesn’t look like a crime scene, but it feels disturbingly close. Along the Moinabad–Manneguda stretch near Chevella, centuries-old banyan trees stand burned, hacked and hollowed. What should have been a protected green corridor now stands visibly diminished.
A field report by TNIE flags these stark signs of damage as evidence of widespread neglect and possible violations of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and environmental safeguards, raising serious concerns.
The most troubling findings, conservationists say, lie in the condition of banyan trees intended to be translocated as part of mitigation measures for the highway expansion project. Many now show severe stress, improper pruning, absence of aftercare and a complete lack of mulching basic requirements for survival after relocation.
According to the report, 911 banyan trees were originally identified in the corridor under NGT directions. During field verification, however, only 867 were found, suggesting that dozens have either disappeared or been removed without proper accounting. Of those located, only 324 were in good condition, while the majority showed signs of burning, pruning, uprooting or decay.
“The banyan trees in Chevella are not just trees; they are living monuments, some possibly centuries old. What we are seeing is ecological vandalism,” said Uday Krishna, founder of Vata Foundation.
Translocation, touted as a key conservation strategy, has been reduced to a technicality. A visit by TNIE found that most translocated banyans had been pruned so severely that they resembled Ashoka or eucalyptus trees, reduced to straight poles with no canopy. In some cases, trees showed signs of burning at the roots, allegedly to reduce survival chances. Not a single translocated tree had been mulched.
“When you translocate a banyan, it must retain its structure to regenerate properly. This is not how heritage trees are moved; this is how you kill them slowly,” Krishna said. He added that three massive banyans near Manneguda, once symbols of the ‘Save Banyan’ campaign, are now being cut or shifted.
The numbers read less like a conservation report and more like a damage log. As many as 46 trees had both branches and bases burnt, 104 had branches burnt and 184 had burnt bases.
Another 155 had branches trimmed, while 27 showed both burnt bases and pruned branches. Five trees were dead, two dying, 10 uprooted and one felled, while 29 were missing. “Burning at the base is a classic way to kill a tree slowly. This pattern across hundreds of trees cannot be accidental,” Krishna added.
Of the 118 trees proposed for translocation, none were formally documented as scientifically translocated. Only 22 were in good condition; the rest showed burn marks, excessive pruning or other damage. “Translocation was promised as conservation, but zero trees have been properly translocated,” Krishna added.
If translocation was meant to save trees, aftercare was supposed to keep them alive. That part appears to be missing too.
Experts note that mulching is critical to retain soil moisture, regulate temperature and reduce transplant shock. Yet field observations found no systematic mulching, irrigation planning or structured aftercare. Large banyans, they point out, require years of monitoring and structural support.
Even the process itself appears undefined. Tejah Balantrapu, a petitioner, told TNIE, “The state tree protection committee had identified around 300 trees for translocation. However, there is no standard process for tree translocation. There is no universally accepted protocol and this is a concern that activists have been raising for a long time.”
Even among the 753 trees proposed for retention, only 729 were found, many in damaged condition. The report notes that 161 retained trees had burnt bases, 91 had burnt branches and 108 had trimmed branches, while four were dead and three were uprooted. Fourteen trees were listed under a separate “Please Save Trees” category, with only half in good condition.
Oversight, too, appears to exist more on paper than on the ground. Tejah said, “The NGT had asked for a monitoring committee and recommended including campaign representatives in it, but there has been no response from authorities. It is unclear whether this directive is being treated as a binding order or merely a recommendation and authorities have not clarified how they are implementing different parts of the order.”
In its November 12, 2025 order, the NGT approved a revised alignment by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), directing that over 85% of banyans around 765 trees be preserved in situ, with the rest translocated within the Right of Way. It also mandated monitoring, aftercare and long-term maintenance under the tree protection committee and Forest department, though activists say these safeguards are not visible on the ground.
The report highlights discrepancies in the “obliterated trees” category: of 26 listed, only five were found, 13 were missing and seven were uprooted.
Environmental groups are now calling for an independent audit, real-time monitoring of translocated trees, restoration of damaged specimens and strict enforcement of NGT directives. “This is not anti-development. It is about intelligent development that respects life. Once a 300-year-old banyan is gone, no compensatory plantation can replace it,” Krishna said.
Tejah stressed the need for a data-backed protocol, arguing that without standardised methods, there is no way to assess whether practices such as pruning or mulching are adequate. Until then, both accountability and conservation remain, much like the trees themselves, uncertain.