9 historic trees in Telangana mapped for declaring them as heritage site
Hyderabad: Nine historic trees in Telangana were among the 150 in the country that were mapped to save and declare them as heritage sites for the future generations.
Of the nine trees, one is called as a visa tree at Mupkal village in Nizamabad district. “People in Nizamabad strongly believe that if documents related to visa were kept near the tree then the candidate would get a visa for the country he is intending to travel,” P Uday Krishna of Vata Foundation told Deccan Chronicle here on Monday.
The eight other historic trees that would be mapped in Telangana are the famous 700-year-old Pillalamarri banyan tree in Mahbubnagar, a tamarind tree at Damaragidda in Chevella, a banyan tree at Gotigarpally in Zaheerabad, Boabab tree at Hyderabad Golf Club, a Junglee jilebi tree at Government Girls High School at Nagarkurnool and one more banyan tree that was axed in Nirmal and later a memorial was constructed. The tree might be axed later as an army of Gond tribe king was hanged to it centuries ago, Krishna said.
Two other trees – a tamarind tree at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) and one more tree at Argul in Armur in Nizamabad were mapped.
Explaining in detail about the foundation’s efforts to map trees, Krishna said the Big Tree Quest – a solo self drive and self-funded road trip across India was to document India’s historic trees and help save them by declaring them as heritage sites.
The idea was evolved out of an urge to visit the largest and oldest tree of every State to plot them onto a Google Earth Pro map. The search results were throwing up some very interesting tree stories like for example the life-saving tamarind tree at the OGH, which saved over 150 lives during a flood in 1908.
“For years, we have been witnessing incredible trees disappear and there is no mechanism in the current system to go back and quantify our loss as there is hardly any documentary evidence in the first place,” he said.
According to Krishna, the first leg of the drive was started in February 2024 and continued excluding a three-month break during general elections in April, May and June. The most challenging tree so far was India’s largest Semal tree in Nandaur Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttarakhand.
“I had to take special permission from the forest department as the jungle was closed for monsoon break and the tree was located deep inside the core jungle. I had to drive 18 kms into the sanctuary to stay at a resthouse and the next day, we trekked 19.8 kms (two way) to visit this beautiful tree. The trek was thick and was full of wild animals. It was through rivers, slush, stones and was tiring but the end result was a visit to one of the most incredible trees I have ever visited,” he said.
“From researching and finding trees to plotting their approximate location on the map and driving to the area and finding the actual spot of that tree and documenting the same, I took pictures and videos of the tree visited and hope to start a Youtube channel so that people can get all information,” he said.
He added that he covered 27,000 plus kms in 22 States and UTs. “I will write a book and submit a request to the Central government to declare and put in mechanism to safeguard these trees so that the future generations too can cherish them. Amongst the trees that I have visited I have come across many trees that need immediate help. Some trees are falling, some are dying, some are under threat of being cut down etc., and such trees can be allowed to be adopted by corporates under CSR activity which will ensure the trees safety,” he said.
