HYDERABAD: Over 100 decades-old trees inside Indira Park on Lower Tank Bund Road and 200 trees in its vicinity will either be axed or translocated to clear the way for the construction of a 2.60-km-long four-lane bidirectional steel bridge from Indira Park to VST in Hyderabad.
The steel bridge will be built over NTR Stadium, Ashok Nagar, RTC ‘X’ Roads and Bagh Lingampally junctions. The trees, including Peltophorum pterocarpum, Tabebuia rosea, Spathodea campanulata, Azadirachta indica (neem), Peepal, Pongamia and other varieties, which provide much-needed shade and fresh air will now have to make way for the construction of the project.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has already started the process of road widening by constructing a new boundary wall around the park, 30 to 40 feet from the existing one. As the works progress at a brisk pace, the workers said that the trees would be removed once the boundary wall is raised. A few days ago, the GHMC’s engineering wing which was entrusted with the task of constructing the steel bridge under the Strategic Road Development Plan wrote to the Forest Department, seeking permission for the translocation or felling of trees.
The Forest Department will give clearance only after it receives a report from the Tree Protection Committee (TPC), which comprises officials from the Forest Department, HMDA and members from Forum for Better Hyderabad. The TPC will decide whether the trees could be felled or translocated. The estimated cost of four-lane elevated corridor project is Rs 350 crore.
GHMC seeks Forest Department permission to fell trees
The GHMC has already started the process of road widening by constructing a new boundary wall around the park, 30 to 40 feet from the existing one. As the works progress at a brisk pace, the workers said that the trees would be removed once the boundary wall is raised. A few days ago, the GHMC’s engineering wing which was entrusted with the task of constructing the steel bridge wrote to the Forest Department, seeking permission for the translocation or felling of trees