Uprooted trees point to the lack of focus on urban tree management

BENGALURU: Over the past five months, around 440 trees in the city have fallen due to rain. While 121 trees fell due to just one thunderstorm on May 21, record rainfall in the first week of September saw 195 trees uprooted. The numbers of fallen tree branches are, no doubt, much bigger.

Last week, three members of a fmily were crushed by a huge tree that fell on their car. Scores of vehicles, parked on roads, have been damaged by falling branches. East and South Bengaluru have reported highest number of tree falls at 149 and 129 respectively.

"It's not just the old and huge trees, even small trees were uprooted. The maximum tree fall was in places such as Basavanagudi, NR Colony, Sri rampura, Koramangala, BTM layout, JP Nagar and Jayanagar. Over 20 trees fell only on Bull Temple Road," Appu Rao, deputy conservator of forest, BBMP , told ET.

While concern has been raised towards flooding of homes and damage to roads, attention towards urban tree management -or the lack of it -has not received the attention it deserves. Dr AN Yellappa Reddy, environmentalist and former IFS officer, blamed it on the way roads and pavements are concreted and asphalted. They are, he said, choking the trees. "Trees are a living entity. They need 400-500 litres of water every day. With no urban tree management, not even a drop of water can get into the tree's root system.This is why trees with weak roots are getting uprooted with slightest winds," he said.


He urged the BBMP to come out with an urban tree management policy. "Even the citizens should be compelled to do minimal things such as watering the plants," he added.

Prof TV Ramachandra of the Indian Institute of Science wondered whether the BBMP had any survey on trees before the arrival of monsoon. "Weak trees are not identified and branches are not pruned.Even though the roots are cut to make way for infrastructure projects, no action is being taken against the erring officials," he said. At a time when the city is "becoming oxygen-defecit" with only 14.78 lakh trees, more trees is the need of the hour, he said.

TREE CENSUS SOON
The BBMP will conduct an extensive tree census which includes the number of trees in each ward, species, age group and health parameters. "We will form an expert committee comprising environmentalists, educational institutes and NGOs. This is our first attempt. The department gets Rs 10 crore each year for planting and maintaining trees. Some of these funds would be used for the census," Appu Rao said.

The tree census is expected to start once the rains recede.