3 trees felled for skywalk near planetarium

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike on Friday felled three trees and pruned branches of 16 trees to facilitate construction of a skywalk between Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and the National Military Memorial on T Chowdaiah Road.

The 26-metre long skywalk, being constructed at a cost of Rs 1.8 crore under public private partnership, will have an elevator. Pioneer Publicity Private Limited is executing the project. Interestingly, the BBMP officials are yet to ascertain the passenger car per unit on this road.  B S Prahlad, Chief Engineer (Major Roads) said that the controversial Hebbal steel flyover and the proposed skywalk were on the same alignment.

Meanwhile, the local residents have raised questions about the utility of the proposed skywalk. Raj Duggar, general secretary of Vasanathanagar Residents’ Welfare Association said that the skywalk was not required as the one opposite Sofia School was being used sparingly. He said that the underpass behind the planetarium always remains closed. Priya Chetty Rajagopal, a member of Citizens for Bengaluru, said that there was no for the skywalk as the waiting time at the traffic signal was quite long (nearly 120 seconds) and hence pedestrians get sufficient time to cross the road. She said that there was neither rush of pedestrians on the stretch.

Meanwhile, BDA and BBMP have issued work orders for axing 18 eucalyptus trees at the National Military Memorial (NMM). A member of the memorial said that the exhibits at the NMM were getting damaged as the branches of these trees were falling on them.

“Hence, the government was requested to grant permission for cutting down them. Eucalyptus trees do not have any ecological value and they do not let anything else grow. So it has been decided to remove them and plant native and local tree species,” the member added.