Some fully grown trees that could have been cut down for road widening were rescued by Belagavi Smart City officials in Belagavi on Wednesday. They were safely uprooted and transplanted on the campus of KMF Dairy on Kanabaragi Road.
As many 28 trees of native species were taken away from Srinagar in Belagavi to the dairy premises.
At first, the branches of the trees were cut, leaving the trunk and the roots.
Each tree was uprooted using earthmovers and some workers to see that the roots were intact. It was then carried on large trucks to the dairy premises where pits were dug large enough to hold the roots.
Kiran Nippanikar, consultant for the project, said that the rate of survival of such transplanted trees was over 90 %. “We can scale up the process and transplant all trees on sites that require trees to be cut down. But the availability of space to transplant the trees reduces the chances,” he said.
Mr. Nippanikar’s team has successfully transplanted over 100 fully grown trees till now. “We prefer to transplant native Indian species trees such as ficus, mango, banana, jackfruit and Audumbar. The great disadvantage is that when you cut down a tree and plant a sapling in its place, we are not sure of its survival. Secondly, we are losing a huge tree that in itself is an ecosystem. If a tree is properly transplanted, it will start growing back in a few months,’’ he said.
Smart City Managing Director Shashidhar Kurer claimed that it was the first such initiative in the city’s development. He said that the task was completed in association with a team of Forest Department officials led by Deputy Conservator M.V. Amarnath.
He said that transplanting will be the standard operating procedure for all sites that need clearing of trees for all Smart City-related works. “We will try to follow it wherever feasible,’’ he said.