HYDERABAD: In a monumental effort by citizens, politicians, and administration alike, a 70-year-old banyan tree, which had uprooted couple of months ago, got a new lease of life through translocation in Sircilla district. Just to translocate this tree, an entire road was laid so that a large crane and truck can be brought to the location where the tree stood. The inspiring efforts to save the tree, began four months ago when it first fell down.
Originally, it was located on outskirts of Suddala village in Konaraopet mandal in the agriculture land of Burra Bhumaiah Goud and Ramesh Goud, and was uprooted during the rains. The farmers, unsure of what to do, noticed that the tree was drying up.
It was then that the farmers were approached by Dobbala Prakash, a nature lover from the village, who expressed the desire to keep the tree alive and began regularly watering the tree. Slowly, despite the odds, the tree showed signs of life, which gave hope to Prakash and he tried to relocate the plant to a local school, however due to logistics involved he could not do it.
His efforts were noticed by the neighbouring villagers and it also drew the attention of Rajya Sabha member Santosh Kumar J. In a tweet, he assured Prakash to rope in all possible support to keep the tree alive in a safer place. This week, on the request of MP Santosh Kumar, who is a nature lover, an organisation named VATA scientifically translocated the tree by removing it along with roots and replanting it at the Sircilla Collectorate premises.
“Initially a single 70-tonne capacity crane could not lift the tree, so another crane with the same capacity was pressed into service,” informed officials.The entire task took nearly 24 hours, where the 100-tonne weighing tree was uprooted and placed on a truck and transported to the Collectorate.