Vijayawada: MLA spends Rs 1 lakh, translocates trees

Vijayawada: It has been proven, yet again, that translocation of old trees is not an impossible task, even though authorities may think otherwise.

In Vijayawada, four old peepul trees were moved, using cranes, to a spot near Tadigadapa Bridge, at an individual’s expense.

The trees that were moved were originally located along the Vijayawada-Machilipatnam highway. They faced the prospect of being axed to accommodate widening of the road. Thousands of trees along the 60 km stretch of road have already been felled.

Officials were about to cut down the four trees in question, which were located near Poranki, but Penamaluru MLA Bode Prasad took it upon himself to save them instead. He arranged for cranes to translocate the trees.

On Sunday night, workers successfully completed the translocation with the help of locals and the police.

The work was conducted during the night, so as not to block the road and inconvenience motorists during the day. The trees were uprooted by digging a four-foot deep hole at a distance of four feet from the trunk. While the trees were being lifted, it was made sure that the root system was not damaged. They were then transported by truck to Bandar Canal Bund, near Tadigadapa Bridge, and planted in a deep pit.

Mr Prasad, the saviour of the trees, said that those trees had been around since his childhood, and he was saddened at the thought of them being cut down. He said that officials were not even thinking of alternatives to save trees, and were indiscriminately cutting them down.

He said that peepul, banyan, Indian beech (Kanuga), and cluster fig trees (Juvvi) could grow even if only a small bit of the root system was left. Mr Prasad requested officials to approach the cutting down of trees for road expansions more sensitively.