Bengaluru: The bio-park of Bangalore University’s Jnanabharathi campus lost 36 sandalwood trees in slightly more than a year, a reply to an RTI query has revealed. Twenty-six of these were chopped and smuggled by miscreants in December 2017 alone.
The 1,000-acre campus is home to the largest number of sandalwood trees in the city; the bio-park itself is spread over 500 acres. While 340 trees have been identified in the 300-acre part II of the park, a tree census is under way in part I.
T J Renuka Prasad, coordinator, bio-park, Jnanabharathi campus, has in his reply to an RTI query said 36 tree-theft cases were reported from November 2016 to December 2017; 26 cases in December 2017 alone.
Activists alleged that the numbers could be more as not all cases are reported. Veeraiah Hiremath, a sportsperson and resident of Vinayaka Layout at Nayandahalli in west Bengaluru, who had filed the RTI application, said the Bio-Park and other parts of the campus don’t have fencing, making trespassing easy. “There are no security guards at strategic locations. On an average, at least 10 trees are chopped on the campus every week,” he added.
Drone survey, geo-tagging on
On measures taken to safeguard sandalwood trees, Prasad said they are in the process of completing a census of sandalwood and other trees on the campus. “A survey is being done using drones and we are also geo-tagging to ensure we have a database of all sandalwood trees,” he added.
A BU official said they are taking steps to close down illegal roads that cut through the campus to check trespassing by cattle grazers and garbage dumping. “However, at some points, we are facing legal hurdles and the matter is in court,” he added.
However, activists like Veeraiah are not ready to buy such claims. “Whenever we lodge complaints and raise our voice against sandalwood theft, BU officials say they will do patrolling and place the matter before the syndicate. But in a few days, everything will be back to square one,” he added.
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