VIJAYAWADA: Widening of roads and building of flyovers must happen in every city, but this often comes at the cost of losing green cover. It happened exactly so in the city: the much-awaited flyover at the Benz Circle had impacted the green cover.
Following uproar over axing of trees from the Circle to the Ramesh Hospital junction, the State government has decided to rope in experts for trans-location of trees to villages near Gannavaram.
The work has already begun. The trees, with most of their branches pruned, have been wrapped into a ball and packed in large jute bags or polythene covers. The trees with their roots are ready for transportation. It takes up to three weeks to relocate a fully grown tree after carefully trimming the roots and allowing regeneration and it works best during the monsoon.
B. Venkat Raju, who is supervising the work, said, “The government has allotted two to three places for trans-location of about 300 trees. It would take a month to complete the process.”
There was uproar that the construction of the flyover would gobble up 540 trees that dot the medians and alongside the main road where a construction zone was being created by the NHAI. All those trees are 15-years-old and were planted on the NH stretch from the Benz Circle to the Ramavarappadu junction between 1997 and 2002. As it costs anything between ₹₹30,000-40,000 to relocate one tree, the officials preferred felling them. To start the flyover work, the officials had already axed some trees.
Following instructions of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Urban Greening and Beautification Corporation Ltd. (APUG&BCL) has taken up the task of trans-location. The Corporation has prepared estimates and roped in experts. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would foot the bill as this stretch falls under its jurisdiction, NHAI officials say.