Transplanted trees thriving

Transplanted trees thriving
S Lalitha
The five trees removed by the BBMP from Palace Road to facilitate widening of the road are doing well and one of them has started sprouting leaves.

Speaking to Metrolife, Deputy Conservator of Forest S Shekar said the trees were shifted to permit widening of the Palace road. “The first, a Copper Pod tree (Peltophorum), transplanted on September 30 inside the Directorate of College Education on Seshadri road has already started sprouting leaves.

A rain tree was also transplanted here on October 12. Three other trees—a Copper Pod, Tamarind and Ailanthes were transplanted inside the Indira Gandhi Musical fountain area within the next two days.”
The procedure costs Rs 2.5 lakhs inclusive of the amount incurred in training people to do the job.

Sharing his thoughts on the tree transplantation, Shekar called it an elephantine task. “It is a labourious and herculean task involving skilled hands and sophisticated machinery.”

The BBMP has also removed five Peepal trees from the ISKCON campus and transplanted them as the society wanted to extend its building, Shekar said. These trees are between 20 and 25 years old and have a girth ranging between 1 and 1.5 metres.

M G Road trees
Meanwhile, the batch of ten trees shifted from M G road to Manekshaw Parade Grounds during May and June to facilitate work related to Metro Rail have profusely sprouted. Not only leaves, even beautiful flowers can be seen on them. The trees were shifted from their original position, which was near the bund, and transplanted here by an NGO Bangalore Environment Trust.

“It would take them a year for them to fully establish themselves,” said Environment Officer at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited Jayaram.