BENGALURU: There has been a lot of hue and cry over cutting of trees for infrastructure projects in the city. However, what nobody has questioned so far is the huge number of trees axed on the request of citizens.
Statistics from the Forest Wing of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) show that in the last three years, a total of 7,821 trees were cut in the South division. This number excludes the trees removed for Metro rail project and trees which fell due to natural causes.
In the South division, which comprises four zones — Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bommanahalli, South and West — an average of seven trees were axed every day from 2014-15 to 2016-17. On an average, eight trees are pruned every day in the region.
It turns out, residents knock on BBMP doors with unusual reasons to remove trees from posh localities like Jayanagar.A senior citizen wrote in his request to the BBMP: “Dry leaves keep accumulating on the building. We cannot clean this every day. Therefore, we want the tree to be removed.” A forest official said this is a common reason among senior citizens to remove trees.
Some of the other reasons given by residents to cut down trees are that they come in the way of parking vehicles, tree roots cause cracks in compound walls, a tree leaning towards a building could cause damage and insects from the trees enter the house.
The owner of a complex in Banashankari State 2 said he wanted a tree to be removed because it was blocking the front view of his commercial complex. He says if this continues, businessmen will not take his building on rent.
A forest official in BBMP said, “We do not entertain such complaints. That is why the number of trees removed in 2016-17 has come down.”However, there are many instances where complainants go the extra mile to get trees axed, the forest official added.
The complainants get in touch with the mayor, commissioner, MLAs, MLCs and the corporator. Elected representatives pay heed to them as they are concerned about their ‘vote bank’ and finally the trees are removed. “If we don’t oblige, we will be transferred,” the official said.
Forest officials said that only a handful of people come with genuine reasons to fell a tree. “Being forest officers, it is our duty to save trees. But, in BBMP, our efficiency is assessed by how many trees we have removed expeditiously. If this trend continues, human existence will be under threat,” a forest official said.
The status of tree cover on private land is no different.
Here too, trees are felled for construction of residential buildings, apartments and layouts. Development projects by builders also massacre trees to a large extent. “We cannot resist in private cases as we need to allow them to axe trees under the Tree Protection Act,” a forest official said.
Trees are pruned whenever the BBMP forest wing receives complaints. As many as 7,380 trees were pruned in the last three years in the purview of BBMP and also 707 trees on private land. Apart from residents, complaints also come from various government agencies, elected representatives, VVIPs and hotel establishments.
BBMP helpless under political pressure
In the last seven months as BBMP tree officer for the southern zone, Assistant Conservator of Forests Ratnaprabha has received proposals for felling of 7-8 trees per day. She adds, “They are all individual proposals from local residents, organisations, agencies and industries. On an average, permission is given for 200 trees per month in the southern zone.
This amounts to 2,500 trees per year. This is apart from the permission given for infrastructure and connectivity projects.” However, officials working in other zones of the city say this is just the tip of the iceberg as 800-900 trees are felled on an average on private land for big apartment and residential complexes. If it is a medium size building project, 100-200 trees are lost per project. Further, there is no estimate or count of trees felled on private land acquired by BMRCL.
A BBMP official from north zone told Express that the pressure from corporators, MLAs and the mayor is so huge and they are told not to trouble people by refusing permission to fell trees. “In fact, many people fell trees in the dead of the night sans any permission while some cut branches or chop off main branches or poison the trees using chemicals.
There is no account of trees being felled on private land and we are not able to control it. We have no manpower to detect illegal felling on roadsides or on government land. Even if we get complaints, it is difficult to address the issue due to shortage of staff.”