The once green canopied road that led from Jogipet to Nizampet in both Sangareddy and Medak districts is now fast changing and for the worse.
The huge trees that lined the road are being chopped down to make way for the expansion of the National Highway 161. Most of the trees are more than 80 to 100 years old.
The tree felling is yet to begin in Sangareddy district limits as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is yet to obtain permission under Water, Land and Tree (WALTA) Act from the Forest Department. However, the trees have already been chopped down in Shankarampet and Alladurg mandals as permission was reportedly given by the Medak district forest officials.
At Rampur village the trees were uprooted despite the fact that the trees were not close to the proposed expansion of the highway. Shoots are springing out of the uprooted trunks indicating that the trees are not totally dead yet.
Very old
“These trees were planted during the time of the Nizam. All the roads going out of Hyderabad — Sangareddy to Nanded-Akola, Warangal, Nizamabad, Vikarabad and Bangalore — had saplings planted all along the route. These have grown to provide a green canopy over the road. Now they are being uprooted in the name of highway expansion. Why is the government not sparing them and acquiring additional land instead?” asked Uday Krishna Peddireddi, founding trustee of VATA foundation, an NGO working to save trees. He was here recently to examine the possibility of relocating some of the trees.
Mr. Uday Krishna said that they had already appealed the Chief Conservator of Forests Medak, to save the existing trees and promised to relocate them within 10 days after the first rains.
However, the Forest Department officials were not available to provide the number of trees that have already been felled for road widening.