Bengaluru: In a major signal to the city fathers that Bengaluru will not allow its trees to be wantonly destroyed in the name of development, four trees in Sarjapur have been translocated to a safer and hopefully, greener environment. Will it replace the city’s fast depleting green cover? That’s to be seen.
But on Saturday, on a muggy afternoon in Sarjapur, a crane moved into position. Within minutes, it had dug deep into the earth.
As several people packed sandbags around its roots, the digger started up again. This is not a construction site. This is the site of a tree translocation project wholly funded by local residents and activists.
The trees are set to be moved to new locations to be replanted. “What a tough and demanding job,” remarked a bystander as the crane yanked the tree from its original position and lifted it. This went on for the whole day. The tree activists hope to get the trees out and into their new places as soon as possible.
The activists managed to raise Rs 3 lakh for the project with the help of online crowd funding. The translocation is being carried out by Jeyam Landscape Consultants, which is based out of Chennai. “Jeyam were extremely understanding and out of their concern for the environment, accepted only a nominal amount to help translocate these trees,” tree doctor, urban conservationist and founder of Project Vruksha, Vijay Nishanth, told Deccan Chronicle on Saturday.
Raicy Matthew of the Sarjapur Residents' Welfare Association (SRWA) confirmed that the translocation was in its final stage. The Association got the go-ahead from the authorities to translocate four trees. They will be planted on Sunday. "All that has to be done now is to uproot these trees and move them to their new destination," she said.
Three of the transplanted trees would be moved to Inventure Academy, while one would go to a gated community within Sarjapur. "The school has accepted these three trees. Two peepal and one neem tree will be replanted on the Inventure Academy campus. The last tree will be replanted in a villa in one of the gated communities within Sarjapur," she said.
The activists lamented that local residents and concerned citizens had to scrounge for funds, while the government should have taken the initiative and transplanted trees instead of marking and felling them.
"The government should be taking the initiative to conserve nature's assets. The common man should not be running after the government begging it to preserve nature," insisted Nishanth.
