Save 856 trees on Jayamahal Road in Bangalore

Green massacre - Bangalore Mirror - Friday, October 22, 2010

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=1&contentid=20101022201010220659096983fadbeb0

More than 850 trees on Jayamahal Road will be gone in a month's time to make way for more vehicles of pollution.

Around 1,000 new vehicles hit the Bangalore city's roads everyday.

Jayamahal Road widening project will cost Rs 34-38 crore.

For every tree 'officially' cut in the past four years, more than 80 new vehicles have got added to the streets of Bangalore.

Between 2006 to 2010 as per government records
Trees axed in Bangalore city for developmental projects like road-widening->0,07,000
Trees axed in Bangalore city for developmental projects like metro--------->0,03,000
Vehicles registered-------------------------------------------------------->8,00,000

Between 2006 to 2010 according to the green activists / environmentalists
Trees axed in Bangalore city for developmental projects like road-widening->2,75,000

State Transport Department statistics
New vehicles hitting Bangalore's roads everyday->1,000

Current vehicular population of 34.90 lakh, a majority are
01) Two-wheelers >24,00,000
02) Private Cars ---->01,00,000
03) Cabs and Taxis ->00,50,407
Total---------------->35,50,407 lakh

For a city that still has the pretension of being a haven for trees, and carries the label of the Garden City of India, the ratio will soon get further skewed. As many as 856 trees will be on the chopping block to widen the Jayamahal Road - a 5-km stretch from Cantonment Station to Mehkri Circle - so that the carbon mon-oxide-belching vehicles get more breathing space for a smooth ride.

And the 856 trees will be axed in just one month. In that one month, the city will have added an estimated 30,000 cars, two-wheelers and buses to its vehicular population.

So out goes oxygen, and enter air and noise pollution in Namma Bengaluru.

The development-at-any-cost mantra of the city's powers-that-be couldn't have got more brazen. To think of Bangalore as Garden City may be a quaint bit of nostalgia, circa 2010, but one still hoped that there were limits to the eco-myopia of our netas and babus. The case of the Jayamahal road-widening project and the attendant destruction of a mind-numbing 800-plus trees shows us how naive we can be!

Besides, the 'smoother traffic flow' on Jayamahal Road that the proponents of the project are holding out will end up being a zero sum game some years down the line, what with the city's burgeoning vehicular population. Consider this: around 1,000 new vehicles hit the citys roads everyday.

CABINET NOD

As many as 856 trees are set to be axed when the project to widen Jayamahal Road (from the Cantonment railway station to Mehkri circle) and the stretch from Mehkri circle to BDA circle gets underway. The state cabinet has already given the green signal and sanctioned Rs 34 crore for the project, which will be taken up by BBMP.

Even as the forest cell of BBMP is yet to receive an 'in-house' application from the civic body's major roads department, it is learnt that all the trees identified for the project will be axed within the next 30 days, and the road-widening work will be completed by June 2011.

Vinay, an activist with Hasiru Usiru, said, "It is for the first time that over 800 trees are being chopped for just one road. Earlier, they had widened Bellary Road but it is once again saturated with traffic. We will raise our objections with the mayor."

Officialspeak: Only 10,000 trees axed in four years

For a city that prided itself on its green cover, there are sadly no exact statistics on the number of trees lost to the spreading concrete jungle. While BBMP's forest cell maintains that only 10,000 trees have been axed to make way for infrastructure projects in the last four years, green activists peg the number at a whopping 2.75 lakh trees across the city.

According to the official break-up of trees chopped between 2006 and 2010, 7,000 trees were lost to road-widening projects while 3,000 trees were axed for the sake of Namma Metro.

Environmentalists claim the official figure is ridiculously low. Seshadri of Hasiru Usiru said, "Bangalore's green cover has been depleting rapidly, more so in the last four years, as all kinds of infrastructure and realty projects were taken up without giving any serious thought to greenery. Our enquiries with the three tree-cutting squads attached to BBMP revealed that each of these teams has cut close to 80,000 trees in the last four years." Though the forest cell states that it has compensated by planting about 3.50 lakh saplings every year, it is not forthcoming on the survival rate of the saplings.

Rampant road hogs

Meanwhile, according to state transport department statistics, approximately 1,000 new vehicles hit Bangalore's roads everyday. Of the current vehicular population of 34.90 lakh, a majority are two-wheelers 24 lakh. There are around one lakh private cars and 50,407 cabs and taxis.

BBMP waits for SC's nod to fell 856 trees - Wednesday, September 29, 2010

http://expressbuzz.com/biography/bbmp-waits-for-scs-nod-to-fell-856-trees/210852.html

On one hand the city corporation has earmarked crores of rupees in its budget to build tree parks and on the other hand, it is seeking permission to fell as many as 856 trees to widen a road.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the state government have approached the Supreme Court to file an interim application wherein they have sought permission to cut 856 trees in the city. The trees will be felled to widen a 5.5-km stretch on Palace Road. The stretch in question starts from BDA junction and goes around Jayamahal.

BBMP Chief Engineer (Major Roads), Chikrayappa, informed that they were waiting for the approval of the Supreme Court to start work on the stretch. He said once the work started, it would be completed within 12 months.

The BBMP's road widening drive has seen stiff opposition from resident welfare organisations in the city. It was alleged that road widening in the city was being taken up in an unscientific manner. Even Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Sureshkumar had spoken against it.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/97920/palike-draws-bike-lanes-tree.html

Double take

Palike draws bike lanes on tree lines - Deccan Herald Sunday, September 19, 2010

The civic body wants to fell over 850 trees in the name of road widening, a project for which it has drawn flak from the City's environmentalists and tree lovers.

The BBMP has already a proposal to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) to seek the consent of the advocate general before it moves the Supreme Court and seek the go-ahead to fell the old trees that would make way for the Rs 38-crore road-widening project.

The Palike's plans to give the City wider roads at the cost of green. Part of the BBMP's concern for cyclists stems from the City's increasingly polluted air, aggressive motorists and pervasive lack of respect for traffic laws which do not make Bangalore's streets very safe for two-wheelers.

The tree felling and bike path construction plans are on the BBMP's drawing board and subject to clearances.

Teens try to thwart BBMP axe - Bangalore Mirror Friday, November 05, 2010

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News\%20-\%20City&sectid=10&contentid=2010110520101105044143938901c7e75

"The first question that comes to mind is "what is wrong with these guys?" says Bhakti, a second year PUC student from Mount Carmel College, who came up with the idea of taking on the mighty civic body.

Nandita Chalwa and Srividya V P, a couple of ninth standard students of Sindhi School, are disgusted. "The administration's argument is that they plant two saplings for every tree they cut down. How does it balance out when you are a cutting down 100-year-old trees? By the time the saplings grow (if they grow at all), even we'll be dead," argues Srividya.

Simple solutions will save Jayamahal's 856 trees - Times of India - Thursday, November 25, 2010

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Simple-solutions-will-save-Jayamahals-856-trees/articleshow/6984157.cms

One of the most beautiful avenues in Bangalore, the Jayamahal main road, can retain its character, charm and critically, the 856 trees, if BBMP were to look at other options like signal synchronisation, junction improvement or even grade separators, say urban planners.

The main problem with the project is that most related works have already begun and are at various stages of progression. The inner wall of the palace has already been demolished and reconstructed in most places. According to BBMP sources, the works had started even before the approval from the state government that landed just two-three weeks back. The lack of transparency is another worry. Even the detailed project report for the Bellary Road widening has nothing more than overall figures.

Voices of protest

"The road really doesn't need to be widened cutting 856 trees. Only two junctions are a problem as the signals very often don't work properly there. Consider the alternatives. Most projects are taken up without any planning or public consultation."

-- Sania Khan, a resident for 15 years

HERE ARE THE SOLUTIONS

"Why not look at other alternatives like signal synchronisation, first? For 30,000 people going to airport, should we cut down 856 trees on this road?"

- Vinay Srinivasa, Hasiru Usiru

"All road-widening projects should be put on hold till there is greater clarity on what is the holistic solution for city. We cannot look at isolated stretches. There is no city widening plan. The larger plan should have elements of public and private transport. They should freeze arbitrary road widening projects. City planners should put out what is the city-wide plan for traffic and mobility. Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) should be the integrator agency."

- V Ravichandar, Chairman, Feedback Consulting