Bamboo felling trips up NICE

Bamboo felling trips up NICE
BY AMIT S. UPADHYE
BENGALURU








Article Rank










The forest depart ment is set to take action against the developers of Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) for uprooting 47 bamboo clumps at the Hosakerahalli tank bund area on Thursday.

On Friday, the Bengaluru Urban Division lodged a complaint with BBMP's forest cell and recommended action against Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) Limited for uprooting fully grown bamboo trees without obtaining the prior permission of the tree officer at BBMP's Forest Cell. The complaint letter, with Deccan Chronicle, recommends punitive action against NICE under the Karnataka Tree Preservation Act 1976, for felling bamboo clumps alongside the expressway link road which cuts across Hosakerehalli lake. Spread across 59 acres and 26 guntas the lake serves as one of the biggest water bodies in surroundings of Banashankari. The NICE company was granted 5 acre 39 guntas to construct the link road, the first phase of the ambitious BangaloreMysore Express Highway.

“According to the act, trees can be felled only after obtaining permission from concerned tree officer. Though bamboo belongs to the grass family, it’s also clubbed under the category of trees and forest produce. Elephants largely depend on bamboo clumps for their diet. Moreover, bamboo grown at the tank bund was a result of many years of nurturing and they were reduced to stumps despite the warnings,” a forest officer said.

However, NICE officials claimed the felling could not be avoided. “We have sent a team of officials to probe whether the contractors have felled the bamboos. We at NICE give utmost importance to the environment and last week we relocated nearly 15 trees,” said NICE spokesperson M. Nayaker.