52 trees to be chopped for road widening

52 trees to be chopped for road widening
Bangalore, April 1, DH News Service:

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has restarted some of the projects in the City, which were stalled due to the BBMP elections.

The first task the authorities have taken up within 72 hours after the polling was over, is the Mysore Road widening project from Sirsi Circle to Nyandahalli.

The BBMP embarked on this project under the cover of darkness on Wednesday night and began to cut trees in the vicinity. Under the project, as many as 52 trees will be felled.

Sources in the BBMP claim that the Environment Department tried to stall the felling of trees as much as possible, but ultimately failed.

“We were under immense pressure to clear the project by the higher-ups in the Palike. We tried to stall it but ultimately had to be cleared,” said a BBMP official on request of anonymity.

Raging debates have already begun over the rationale behind the implementation of the project. Citizens were found debating on Thursday, on various blogs, over the logic of the
project.

The netizens feel that bottlenecks on this stretch are due to signals at the junctions and widening of the road would not serve any purpose.

“The Government will end up spending crores and cause inconvenience to road users. We will also lose all the trees which have so far provided a green canopy on the Mysore Road. But the Bapujinagar bridge is a huge bottleneck. If nothing is done to widen the road at this point, the whole effort is meaningless,” read one of the comments on a blog debating the project.

The widening of 3.7-kilometre stretch on Mysore Road is a massive task undertaken by the BBMP at an estimated cost of Rs 17 crore.