1,000 green cheers for BBMP

1,000 green cheers for BBMP

Vaishalli Chandra. Bangalore



No, it is not a promise to plant more trees!
But the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which has taken a lot of flak in the recent past for issuing orders to tree fell trees around the city, has quietly planted a thousand saplings.
The regreening process has been conducted in the stretch between Mother Diary circle in Yehlanka New Town to the Air Force Station in Jallahalli,
At present, the city's greens have considered the civic body as the Enemy No. 1, what with the various tree felling orders flying all around the city. The greens in Bangalore have literally been up in arms against the civic agency.
But, the BBMP does much more than grant permission to bring down trees.
R Suresh, range forest officer, Byatrayanapura-Yehlanka calls these decisions as inevitable and "a necessary evil to meet the demands of an ever growing city".
He adds on: "We are trying to plant saplings. We wait for the roads to be widened, re-laid and the drains to be constructed. That gives us an idea of how much space is at our disposal to regreen the place."
This kind of mapping of the area where the regreening drive is to occur also helps the officials decide the kind of trees suitable for that area.
While they may not be able to bring back the lovely high canopies the city is fast losing, they are ensuring that the future of the trees is secure, meaning they do not touch electric lines or cover street lights.
For instance, Suresh explained, "On the side roads, most often the electric lines run parallel to the road. So we have selected saplings of Pongamia Pinnata (Honge), a variant of Lagaestromea species, Singapur Cheery, and Mallotus Philippensis among other similar trees as these are short in size and will not disturb the electric lines that are running above."