Trunk call: Bengaluru crowdfunds to save trees on Bannerghatta Road

BENGALURU: To save a banyan and a peepal tree on Bannerghatta Road from coming under BMRCL’s axe, tree lovers have come together to crowdfund their transplantation.

In the last eight days, Rs 13,800 has been raised out of the target of Rs 7,00,000. While the initial dates for transplantation were fixed for February 9 and 10, campaigners are likely to extend the deadline to after Valentine’s day, to give more time for funds to come in.

Joy VR, a campaigner, said they wanted to encourage couples to save their Valentine’s Day gift money and donate it to save the trees instead.

“The banyan tree is more than 60 years old and is 30 feet wide. It is going to be a great challenge to uproot and transplant it safely, and equipment such as cranes itself will cost Rs 1.5 lakh. After these two trees, we plan to transplant two more on the same stretch, to Arekere nearby,” Joy said.

The trees are near Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research and the peepal tree is four to five feet in width. The campaigners took permission from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to transplant this tree. They plan to approach BMRCL for help with machinery as it is expensive. The three-day process will be facilitated by tree doctor Vijay Nishanth, who has conducted similar tree transplantations before.

Speaking to City Express,Nishanth said, “The person who will execute this has agreed to do it  and so Rs 7,00,000 should be sufficient.”The process begins with uprooting the tree and applying medicines to the root and surrounding area.

“We then pack it up within gunny bags, part of the original soil it grew in, manure and river sand. This is to aid it in the first three months after transplantation, as it needs time to adjust to the new soil,” Joy explained.

Joy and a few other residents of Sarjapur transplanted three trees in their area back in May 2017. The trees are doing well and they hope to receive the same results in Bannerghatta as well.

Details for the campaign can be found on the website impactguru.com.