BENGALURU: During summer, most areas would be dry with an azure sky and few or no flowers.
Bengaluru would be different. The tabebuia flowers in bright red, yellow, purple, and pink would dispel the aridness.
Unlike every year, the tress which used to create floral carpets on the roads, are dwindling in the CBD area. Those still standing are not blooming much. Environmentalists, tree experts, forest department, and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials differ in their opinions regarding the cause.
Some of them state that it is because of increased concretisation. Others pointed out that trees are axed. Ones which have been planted are yet to bloom, some opined. A section of experts said that climate change is one of the reasons that has affected the trees.
“Very few of those planted by Britishers have withstood the impact of climate change. Many have died because of age. An analysis of the impact of climate change and seasonal change on the trees is needed. It’s a matter of concern but it’s also interesting,” said a state forest department official.
Noted environmentalist and retired forest department official AN Yellappa Reddy said that the survival of trees is difficult because of a lack of space around them for water to percolate into roots as the surrounding is completely concretised.
Tree expert Vijay Nishanth said that not only are the trees lesser in numbers in the CBD area but they are also blooming less in other parts of the city like Jayanagar which is a natural cycle. A senior BBMP official from the forest cell admitted that many trees had died over the years and were felled because of multiple civic agencies’ works.
To compensate, BBMP started to undertake plantation drive in areas where civic works have been completed. M Jagadish, joint director, Lalbagh, horticulture department, said that the department has started massive tabebuia plantation in Lalbagh and Cubbon.