Developmental activities causing irreversible harm to green cover

Developmental activities causing irreversible harm to green cover
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The trees are not just green cover but host array of urban wildlife and its a gifted biological diversity. Its not easy to replace. But, any development activity in City, trees have always been the primary victims.

Be it an under pass or a flyover, the trees of Bangalore have always been the losers. In last five years, the so called ‘garden city’ has lost more than thousand trees in the name of development. Apart from regular construction and road widening activities, the rains have uprooted more than hundred trees in recent monsoons.

While most of the urban ecologists are opting for the decentralisation of current City development and shift IT majors to the Tier-2 Cities of the State, the City authorities have planned more construction work in the core of the City to ease the traffic congestion.

The recent construction work on the grade separator in Malleswaram 5th Cross is all set to uproot 91 fully grown trees. The survey conducted by a City Green organisation revealed that 51 of these trees are Rain Trees, which provides the required lung space for the City’s environment and absorb Carbon Dioxide in large quantity. In a recent threat, nearly 1,300 trees are facing danger with 12 roads are all set to get widened.

If the ongoing flyovers and under pass works are causing ecological imbalance in the core of the city, the highway widening projects have created barren lands. Several trees were lost while widening Kanakpura Road and Mysore Road.

The elevated high-ways and outer peripheral ring roads are coming up in fast time, which are all set to fell more trees.

Greens recently have requested the authorities to encourage private bodies which want to improve urban green cover. The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has taken up the initiative to increase the tree numbers in the parks across City.

The programme which began last year, promises to improve the large tree population in the centre of the city. According to BMP Tree Officer Uddupudi Krishna, “Minimum 30 per cent area of all the City parks will host tree cover. Open spaces in all the wards will be utilised for tree planting.”