Residents of Whitefield have been in a battle with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) since January 2021 to save the remaining of the trees on the edge of the road near GR Tech Park in Whitefield. The residents have again been petitioning the BBMP and threatening legal action.
Since August 2020 the residents of Whitefield have been actively fighting to protect the trees on the side of the road near GR Tech Park. As part of the redevelopment project for the road the BBMP wanted to build new drains and widen the roads. To do this several trees were to be cut and BBMP axed 10 full grown trees. The residents however launched a campaign to protect the trees. After the campaign the work had stopped and the remaining 70 trees were saved.
According to the residents they also got a commitment from the Executive Engineer of Major Roads, that the road redevelopment would be on sustainable principles, providing wider footpaths, tree ponds for water percolation, and assigned vendor zone, so that pedestrians will be prioritised.
The project started again in January of this year and allegedly the contractor removed a few more trees without getting noticed. It is also being alleged that the contractors are laying the road base, the carriage way is too wide, and the footpath would be very narrow.
The residents have now petitioned the BBMP Commissioner and Administrator to revise the road widening plan to reduce the carriageway and increase the footpath width, to make it more pedestrian friendly.They have also demanded planting of more saplings to increase green cover.
“The road is not used much by vehicles at all and it was majorly being used by pedestrians. Right now we want a wide footpath and designated areas for street vendors so that footpath is not encroached. We also want new tree saplings to be put to compensate for the trees lost and to provide shade.” said Sandeep Anirudhan, Convenor, Namma Whitefield RWA Federation.
Some have alleged that this unnecessary road widening is being done under pressure from a real estate company which is developing an apartment complex on this road, to benefit them.