A group of residents and environmental activists in Bengaluru’s Koramangala on Saturday morning, September 4, held a demonstration protesting against the proposed felling of 67 trees without following due process of law. The trees are poised to be axed for the construction of the much-delayed Ejipura-Kendriya Sadhana flyover. Another 17 trees on the same stretch will be translocated for the same work. The protesters, many of them who were women and students, held placards stating the importance of these large trees at a time of rising temperatures in the city year on year and catastrophic natural disasters globally. As reported earlier by TNM, a section of residents have been complaining about how the BBMP which had earlier stated that only 38 trees will be felled for the project, later increased the number of trees to be impacted to 67. According to Section 8 (3)(vii) of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976, any project requiring felling of more than 50 trees needs to be carried out only after a set process of public consultation.
Avanthi Rao, a local resident said although a notification uploaded on the BBMP website states that 67 trees will be cut, they are not sure about which are the trees that will be axed other than the earlier noted 38 trees. “We have made multiple attempts to get the design of the flyovers to understand why these trees are needed to be cut. We want complete accountability on part of the authorities as initially we were told no tree will be required to be cut as it is an elevated project and only pruning of the branches will be sufficient. We will intensify our protests until and unless we get satisfactory answers,” she added.
“The doubling of felling of trees to 67 without any public notice or consultation is what we want stopped. We are not against the flyover which has missed so many deadlines, but felling of more trees for this project should be stopped. This stretch is lined with trees older than 40 to 50 years and cannot be translocated,” Vinod Jacob, general manager of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, said on Saturday. He added since the project is of an elevated nature, we as a group, are of the opinion that the trees obstructing the elevated corridor must be trimmed and pruned and not be felled. Floated by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, NBF acts along with local resident welfare associations works on many civic and environmental issues of the city.