BBMP's con job

>Major efforts to restore trees in city
Efforts are on to transplant trees that come in the way of road widening works, writes Poornima B V


With road widening work in progress, efforts are also on in a big way to save and protect as many trees as possible. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to take up transplanting of trees wherever possible. Some trees have been identified and transplanting work is already on. According to Krishna Udapudi, Deputy Conservator of Forests, BBMP, there are only two very old trees on Kasturba Road that come in the way of road widening and efforts are on to study the feasibility of transplanting them. On Race Course Road, over 110 small trees that are 5-12 years old may come in the way of road widening works and will be transplanted soon.
Apart from this, experts from the BBMP, The Bangalore Environmental Trust and the Environmental Monitoring Committee of the Metro Rail project have come to the conclusion that some trees that come in the way of the Metro Rail alignment will be transplanted while trees that are too old may have to be sacrificed. After careful inspection, the committee has identified some trees that can be restored with some effort. Trees that are only partially affecting the alignment may be pruned and retained. Apart from this, efforts are also on to multiply and propagate some very old trees through root and shoot cuttings to study how these trees have evolved mechanisms to withstand stress in terms of space, water and pollutions levels in the city. Efforts are also on to have an even more aesthetically pleasing promenade on MG Road in place of the existing one.
Tree fall
According to Udapudi, only trees with certain physiological characteristics like those that are easy to root, those that come up easily with shoot and root cuttings can be transplanted. It has been found that the Ficus sps, Peltaphorum and Gulmohar trees respond well to transplanting. Also, transplanting involves pruning down the tree to make the tree lighter, uprooting the tree with as little root damage as possible along with a huge ball of earth and planting them in sand beds that have been prepared, compacted and flooded with water. The tree has to be protected till it establishes well in the new environment.
The success rate is around 80 percent if this method is adopted. The success rate also depends on the age of the tree as with age, vigour goes down and recouping may not be as effective as in younger trees. Moreover, in an urban setting, the trees have less space to develop deep roots and because of lack of space, they may develop crooked branches that may upset the balance of the tree, thus bringing the branches or the tree itself down when there's a heavy downpour accompanied by wind.
Also, over the years, it has been noticed that some species like peltaphorum, spathodea and silver oak are prone to falling in an urban setting as these are tall and also need more space at the base of the stumps. According to Udapudi, it has been found that the cassia sps, neem, mahogany and some dwarf varieties of the champak tree are more suitable for urban forestry.
Emergency measures
With the onset of pre-monsoon showers, some trees in the city got uprooted and wreaked havoc in the city recently. According to Udapudi, the uprooting of trees is something that happens only during the pre-monsoon rains as these showers are accompanied by wind. Emergency measures have been taken up in the past two months and ten-member squads have been formed and are available 24 hours to handle any emergency.
According to Udapudi, arterial roads are being given top priority as the damage is more on busy roads with more vehicular movement as compared to roads in residential areas where anyway people stay indoors once it starts pouring.