Thirty-three fully grown trees aged more than 10 years and permitted for felling officially for road widening on the Nallagandla-Tellapur road stretch have been saved and relocated safely. Vata Foundation, a non-governmental organisation specialising in trees translocation, was once again in the act, moving 16 trees to a private land in Shankarpally and an equal number to another plot in Shamshabad.
Donations raised
The trees are of ‘Peltophorum’ family and a fairly popular ornamental tree grown around the world. “It took about a week for our volunteers to shift them to the private lands on the request of the land owners. We raised about ₹60,000 as donations from the residents of the nearby communities and others to transport them. All the trees had outgrown their tree guards,” said founder trustee P. Uday Krishna on Tuesday.
Apparently, there have been more than 100 trees on the road and, in stages, most of them have been allowed to be chopped off in recent months. Some of the trees had survived and could get a fresh lease of life due to the support of the some of the residents and initiative shown by a few officials of the Roads & Buildings department along with the municipal corporation.
Secretariat trees
With regard to the stalled work on tree translocation inside the Secretariat, the Foundation has been asked to participate in a tender called for transport of the giant trees to the chosen sites. “We have clearly told the authorities that we do voluntary work based on public donations and hence, there is no question of participating in the tender. The trees are standing as of now and they are looking at other options,” said Mr. Uday Krishna.
The huge trees inside the Secretariat need a big crane and multi-wheeled trailer for translocation. “We have been doing the trimming of branches and roots as well as digging the trees marked for translocation but the transport has been expensive so we have requested the department concerned to provide us the heavy vehicles required if we are to return to the site,” he added.
Earlier this month, the Foundation walked out after shifting 18 trees when it was asked to pay ₹1,000 each for eight trees, marked for felling, but were “illegally translocated” along with the 10 trees that were officially permitted for translocation!