They are like the proverbial sword of Damocles that hangs over the City. That they mean business was proved last week when in a sudden gust of winds, one of them, a branch of a 65-year-old mango tree came crashing down, killing a passerby travelling in an auto, on the stretch between Commercial Tax Office and Queens’ statue junction. While the driver was lucky to survive, his passenger, G V Kulkarni, a 45-year-old RTA Inspector from Koppal, was crushed to death.

Traffic police
A sub-inspector of police who was at the spot when the incident happened, was outraged by the mishap. "It is the most gruesome of incidents I've ever witnessed. The death was not due to any natural calamity, it was sheer neglect by officials in charge be it the Forest Department or the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). First of all, trees that are weak and prone to fall easily must not be planted along roads with heavy traffic, not obstruct traffic and pose a threat to riders and drivers. A scientific planting of trees must be taken up," he says. More than 40 per cent of the killer branch was rotten and termite eaten. Neither the Forest Department nor the BBMP knew this was the state of the tree. "Sixty per cent of the tree was healthy. It looked perfectly alright.  We had no idea it was rotting," Deputy Conservator of Forest Krishna Udapudi told Metrolife.

Several reasons
A host of reasons, some natural and some man-made, have been cited as having contributed to the recent tragedy. Lack of planning and haphazard development besides unscientific pruning of tree branches and the lack of any focus on insect ridden trees are among the reasons being cited.

The authorities are known to undertake massive renovation drives of the footpath which only end up in severing side roots of trees. These side roots are what help the tree anchor and as that's lost, they get uprooted at the slightest upheaval, says Dr T V Ramachandra, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science.
Covering of the surface of the soil with reinforced concrete layers up to the trunk of the tree stops percolation of water. 

"At least two to three feet of earth space should be left undisturbed around the trees. Only then will the aeration and water absorption for the roots be possible," observes Ramachandra. He feels the Forest Department or the BBMP must identify dead wood, insect eaten trees and cut them before the monsoon arrives.

Environmentalists speak
Environmentalist Suresh Heblikar shares Ramachandra's view.  “The old and dying trees in the City must be identified and removed. The BBMP and Forest Department seem to have no knowledge about trees and its ecological, botanical, environmental functions. Scientific pruning of trees would help. Reckless pruning would cause trees to slant dangerously to one side, multiplying their chances of falling," he reasons.

Heblikar is in favour of studying the existing trees and saving them rather than cutting them mindlessly.
“Trees must be studied before they're pruned or chopped. You can assess the age of a tree by watching out for gouts on them. If the gouts are twisted then the tree is aged. We must constantly look out for termites on trees and spray pesticide where necessary. If the tree is hollow and insect ridden then you could even fill the tree with a certain material to prevent the tree from falling and add a few more years to its life span."

According to an officer in the Horticulture Department, ageing, indiscriminate growth where there is an imbalance between the growth of the number of branches and roots and digging of the ground for laying cables weakens the anchorage strength of trees. He says Gulmohar and rain trees have a short life span. They are of soft wood and grow very fast.

Therefore, those trees must be cut after a certain time. Shorter trees must be planted in their place. This is all about scientific planting of trees, he emphasises.