Translocation will be the way to go for GHMC and other urban local bodies henceforth whenever fully grown trees are found to be in the way of urban infrastructural projects.
Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) K. T. Rama Rao was learnt to have given standing instructions to urban development and municipal authorities to ensure that all trees, irrespective of the species, would have to be translocated whenever felling them was the only alternative left.
Earlier, GHMC axed fully grown trees in the way of infrastructural projects when translocation was not an option as recommended by the Tree Protection Committee. Allegations were rife about how even the trees recommended for protection had been felled, and the contractor would get away by paying the requisite penalty.
The flyover being constructed near Botanical Gardens of Kothaguda will be the first project under GHMC’s purview in which the corporation will translocate several species of forest trees as a matter of policy.
As per information shared by officials, a total of 212 fully grown trees from the Botanical Gardens would be translocated to facilitate construction of the flyover and road-widening. Close to one acre of forest land would be diverted for the purpose.
The trees would be re-established in a forest block, close to Pala Pitta Cycling Park — one of the urban forest parks developed by the Forest Department, Vice-Chairman of the Telangana State Forest Development Corporation P. Raghuveer said.
“Already, GHMC had translocated about 25 trees of Terminalia species into the Botanical Gardens. They requested us to maintain them and we agreed. Fortunately, all the 25 survived,” Mr. Raghuveer said.
However, the latest lot of trees would have to be looked after by the GHMC for two to three years, before they were firmly established at the new location, he said.
The trees to be relocated belong to species such as ficus, neem and even bamboo. Species such as ficus promise high rate of survival provided the process is carried out scientifically, while the same cannot be said about other species. However, Mr. Raghuveer said, it was decided, based on experience, to retain the canopies, as the translocation would be done close by.
The same was experimented with and yielded good results near Kamareddy, he said.