Bengaluru: Tree census from tomorrow

Bengaluru: The much awaited tree census will be kicked off on Sunday afternoon. The project Vrukhsha Foundation will conduct India’s first free tree census through a Bengaluru based in house mobile application.

The app will be dedicated to Seturam Neginhal, former IFS officer and the man credited to have brought greenery to the city through a slew of initiatives.
Once the mobile application is ready, BBMP officials can take pictures of the trees, describe their features and tag the location. This would help in creating a database for the trees.

Tree Doctor Vijay Nishanth, who is leading the project said it is a step towards digitization and transparency. “We have seen numerous incidents of pruning and use of acid to kill trees. This digitization would put an end to such misadventures,” he added.

With the tree cover fast depleting in the city, such a mapping has now become imperative. “We have received numerous complaints on the illegal chopping of trees for advertisements etc. The forest department is short staffed to keep a tab on such happenings. We hope that the app will help us,” said a senior official from the BBMP forest department.