Bengaluru loses over 630 trees in 14 months, experts alarmed

BENGALURU: A huge tree was sprawled across a portion of Jayamahal Road on Monday. In Vijayanagar, another uprooted tree lay in pieces after BBMP’s road-clearance teams sawed off the branches. Queen’s Road was also scattered with fallen green limbs.
The stormy weekend weather toppled dozens of once - sturdy trees across the city and caused scores of branches to crash on passing or parked vehicles. The collapses raised concerns about public safety in rainy Bengaluru and prompted citizens to ask whether concretisation around the bases of trees was making the green giants unstable. Alarmed tree experts assert this is the case and add that haphazard digging of roads and asphalt works are also weakening trees by exposing their roots.
The number of downed trees in the past 14 months lends credence to the argument. A total of 637 trees were uprooted in the period and 3,061 branches came down, according to city-wide data obtained by TOI. In April, 71 trees lost their footing, and a figure of 125 has been recorded so far this month.
Experts voiced serious concerns about the growing number of instances. “Bengaluru lacks a proper system to keep a count of trees and monitor them. The tree census has pending since long,” said environmentalist Vijay Nishanth. “You can prevent several trees from being uprooted (during gusts of rain and wind) by asking a dedicated team to monitor them.”
Tree lover Dinesh K said the BBMP tended to wake up to the problem only during the monsoon. “Identifying old trees and removing weak or loose branches should be a routine exercise,” he said.
The BBMP deputy conservator of forest, MK Cholarajappa, said most of the trees that fell recently were healthy and this had baffled the civic body. “People are under the impression that deceased or dying trees were uprooted, but the fact is that the majority of them were in a good condition,” Cholarajappa said, adding more than rain, strong winds were probably the reason behind it. “We will undertake a tree census and build a solid database.”
Tree collapses have a knock-on effect as the falling limbs snap power lines, disrupt traffic and create hazards for pedestrians and motorists. On Monday, vehicles on Sampige Road and in surrounding areas moved at a crawl after five trees fell overnight. “Monsoon is yet to begin, and this is the situation already. I dread to think what’s going to happen in the coming months,” said commuter Ramya Athreya.
Tilak Nagar resident Rahel Shah echoed the sentiment. “We are frightened to ride or drive in the city when it rains. You don’t know what’s going to land on you or in front of you,” Shah said.
Ravikumar Surpur, special commissioner (projects), BBMP, said stormy weather was mostly knocking down trees that were 50 years old or more. But he agreed that concretisation and unscientific pruning were compounding the problem.
“Often, residents complain about overgrown tree branches jutting into their compounds. When these branches are pruned unscientifically, it disturbs the tree’s balance. Such trees become vulnerable when there are strong winds. Another problem is that concretisation on sidewalks prevents adequate amount of water and nutrition from reaching the roots,” Surpur said.