Trees vs roads: What do Bangaloreans want?

Trees vs roads: What do Bangaloreans want?

Saryu Mahajan / CNN-IBN

Bangalore: In a poll conducted by CNN-IBN Outlook State of the Environment, results revealed that 14 per cent opted for widening of roads while 57 per cent preferred protection of trees, despite the city’s well-documented traffic problems.

Everyday is a busy day in Bangalore where everyone jostles around, cursing the city’s narrow, congested roads and nobody seems to remember the time when the city’s trees got rolled over for the need of growth and development.

A tree that was 90 years old and treated like almost a senior citizen by the Bangaloreans, is now a huge trunk for that is all that is left of the tree. The other rows of trunks that have been cut lie on the ground like corpses.

It is unfortunate that the Garden City, which has taken so much pride for its greenery and environment, has come to a dry still today.

In the past one year, 1500-2000 trees have been cut down for the widening of roads. Another 40,000 trees along a 400-km stretch will be chopped down if the road-widening plan continues. 95 roads, including those leading to the new Bengaluru Airport, are a part of the plan.

The tree officer himself has little clarity on the figure.

“Roughly more than 700 trees have cut down and we’ve replanted about 70,” says Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) tree officer Shekhar.

Leo Saldanha, an environmental activist, calls this cutting down of trees tree genocide. His PIL to stop the road-widening project has been accepted by the Karnataka High Court. However, he knows that this is only the beginning. The city needs to revamp its road culture.

“The change has to happen from the government,” says Saldanha

The 57 per cent of people who want more trees and the voices that scream along give hope that Bangalore, the once Garden City, will not end up looking like the barren drying trees.