Bangalore tree cover in the red

Bangalore tree cover in the red
Stephen David
Bangalore, October 31, 2008


Imagine Sunset Boulevard. You think of the 1950 American film classic or the famous street in Los Angeles, California. For most Bangaloreans, Sunset Boulevard - a tree-lined street in a general sense - meant leisurely strolls on tree-lined roads. Or breath-taking views of jacaranda, gulmohar or mayflower trees that liberally blanketed the Karnataka capital, which boasted the garden city sobriquet for many years.

Greens like Leo Saldanha, who founded the Environment Support Group, are unhappy that the city that was known for its abundance of tree cover is being stripped of the greenery that had made it one of the most sought after destinations.

Environmentalists like him think at least ten per cent of the green cover has been shorn off the city in the name of development, governmental apathy or the sheer negligent attitude of the citizenry.

"Much of the green cover that we have now is thanks to the early visionaries who had mapped out greening of the city and had planted enough trees to give the much needed shade," Saldanha told India Today.

"The city fathers and planners have not given the same importance to environment by creating new parks and green cover."

Two of the largest lung spaces in the 750 sq km city today are the 500-odd acre Lalbagh and Cubbon parks, founded by Tipu Sultan's father Hyder Ali and a British resident of pre-Independence India called Sir Mark Cubbon. Both were planned a hundred years ago and continue to lend the city its green image.

Shankaralinge Gowda, former commissioner of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the agency in charge of city planning, created "oxygen banks" - large swathes of land in the BDA layouts exclusively reserved for growing trees.

His successor H. Siddaiah has also insisted on a green advantage for his agency but much more needs to be done by the city corporation officials and the city fathers. There were mayors in the city who would talk about green cover but the city now does not even have a mayor with civic polls a few months away.

Among others, trees conserve rainwater, provide shelter and food for birds, bees, butterflies and a host of insects and animals, prevent soil erosion and absorb toxic chemicals from the soil, and absorb noise. Love for trees must start young. Like in schools.

"Awareness about greenery should begin when young," says Princess Franklyn, the dynamic principal of one of the city's top schools, the trees rich Bishop Cotton Girls School, "and we teach our children to learn to appreciate trees and take care of saplings."

Past chief ministers like Ramakrishna Hegde and Gundu Rao did a lot to give a thrust to green cover in the city in the 1980s which is how the city continues to have some tree lined avenues after losing some to expansion of city roads - especially along the golf course on the way to new airport - or even on roads where Bangalore Metro is on track.

Retired forest officer S.G. Neginhal, who has authored books on trees including Golden Trees Greenspaces and Urban Forestry, commends Rao's decision to transfer tree planting work to the forest department from the city corporation.

Neginhal was involved in planting more than a million tall seedlings in the 1980s. Rao's son and now two-time city legislator Dinesh Rao told India Today, "We are trying to continue the legacy of my dad who loved trees by continuing our campaign to grow more trees."

Rao's house in the concrete jungle in the city RT Nagar is lush with tree cover. More than the officials or the politicians, the movement should be led by the citizenry and only then it will be much more effective, he feels.

"As legislators, we are running around trying to fix one problem or the other just like we are corporators," he adds.

There are no clear indications of how much trees the city has lost although officials claim that there is always a cost to development. Tree lovers only want the officials to plant a few trees for every tree that is chopped down.

Ornithologist - expert on birds - M.B. Krishna says that with the dwindling of tree covers even birds that had made the city their home are missing.

"The planners must insist on new buildings and new layouts to have compulsory coverage for trees or green cover and the public should also be equally responsible in keeping the tree culture alive."

Start small. Begin with planting a sapling that is freely available from the forest department.

"We are there to help the citizens to make the city green," says state forest chief Dilip Kumar.

The city that once boasted an abundance of Moulmein Rosewood or Tabebuia or even silk cotton and Indian coral (all names of trees in Bangalore) will be back to the days of the old.

And the city's seven million citizens can get back for their Sunset Boulevard strolls....