Lifeline for Promenade

Lifeline for Promenade

In a City where trees are the first casualty in the turf war between development and environment, one can be thankful that Bangalores most famous promenade will retain much of its tree cover even as work on the metro rail proceeds alongside.

The environmental advisory committee of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC), headed by environmentalist Yellappa Reddy, inspected the promenade on Tuesday and suggested translocation of selected trees to the BMRC board.

As a first step, four trees near the Anil Kumble junction will be translocated.

BMRC managing director V Madhu said, "We have identified four trees in the initial phase and other trees from a total of 16 will follow suit." Said Yellapa Reddy, "Sixty per cent of the trees will be retained. All those species that have reached middle age and do not come in the way of the project will be pruned, and their regenerative parts collected so that they can be replanted elsewhere. Other trees that are hollow and dont stand a chance of survival will have to be removed." The cost of translocating the trees to the F M Manekshaw Parade Ground will be borne by BMRC. Experts from the forest and horticulture departments have suggested the species and number of trees for translocation.

The trees include pongamia, mahogany, jamun, mango, banyan, bhadraksha and tabubia. Tree translocation apart, the board received a suggestion from committee member Dr Paramesh for a baseline study to moniter sulphate levels in the atmosphere and the impact on the ozone layer. According to the committee, once the metro becomes operational it will produce 80 decibels of sound, above the permissible level of 50 decibels. Current vehicular movement on M G Road produces 100 decibels.

"With a switchover from private vehicles to the metro, the levels of sound and air pollution could come down," said Dr Paramesh. Krishna Udapudi, tree officer, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP), who visited the promenade, said, "A consensus was arrived at by members of the committee, BBMP and experts from the Forest Department. As many trees as possible will be saved by translocation, while some will need to be pruned and the remaining removed as they dont stand a chance of survival." Rohan DSouza , a tree conservationist of Hasiru Usiru, an NGO, opined, "Efforts to retain as many trees as possible should be made. There have not been enough proactive measures to protect trees. For instance, the Environment Impact Assessment Study (EIA) of BMRC initially mentioned 412 trees that would be felled for the project. The figure was subsequently increased to 700 and then to 1,100. As a green activist, I am not convinced by the rationale involved."