Concrete Death

Concrete Death


Trees are being deprived of water and nutrients by the new asphalt base pavements on Rajbhavan Road and many other roads.
Navya
First Published : 11 Feb 2009 08:04:51 AM IST
Last Updated : 11 Feb 2009 03:54:11 PM IST

Trees in the city are dying a slow death, thanks to unscientific asphalting of pavements. In many roads across the city, including Raj Bhavan Road, Queens Road and Bull Temple Road, trees are suffocating as no area is left around their base.

The asphalt base makes absorption of water and nutrients from the soil difficult for trees. Also, as these trees cannot absorb rain water, the city gets flooded easily during rains, warns environmentalists.

Trees on many pavements of the city have already started drying up.

While Delhi HC had passed an order in 2007, saying that an area of 4 x 6 feet should be left around tree bases, Karnataka still has no guidelines on this front.

“Here such decisions are taken based on the type of trees and the location in which they are planted. No particular rule is being followed,” says a Forest Department official.

However, Deputy Conservator of Forests and BBMP’s Tree Officer, MR Suresh said that guidelines are being framed.

“Guidelines have been deliberated with BBMP’s Environment Committee and the Engineering Cell has been instructed to adhere to them. These rules will come into effect soon,” he said.In addition to BBMP, the ambitious World Bank sponsored project for tiling pavements have also ignored the trees. The Rs 177 crore WB project has now been completed in 39 roads in the city. “Our pavements are now designed in Washington. The conditions here are not considered while asphalting pavements,” mocks Saldanha.

Meanwhile, authorities have decided to plant smaller trees on pavements instead of large ones, the reason being that roots of large trees disturb the evenness of roads and pavements. “Dwarf varieties will be planted along roadsides as the root system should not be an obstacle,” says Krishna Reddy, Chief Engineer of BBMP’s Road Widening Cell.

The tussle between environmentalists and government authorities on illegal tree felling also continues. Development projects such as the Metro Rail have claimed several trees while new trees to compensate the loss have been planted outside city limits. “Planting trees out of city limits does not make sense.

Also, new trees have not been planted in most of the widened roads such as Hosur Road, Bellary Road and Sankey Road. Earlier there were trees to give shade for pedestrians and vendors, to absorb noise and pollutants, and to reduce ambient temperature,” says Kathyayani Ch ama r a j , E x e c u t iv e Trustee of the NGO CIVIC.

Authorities defend themselves saying that there is not enough s p a c e l e f t within city l imi t s for afforestation.

With such a turn of events, spotting a good old tree in our garden city might soon be a rarity.