Trees fall across Bengaluru, trigger panic among citizens

Bengaluru: Over the last week, at least 200 trees in the city have come down, owing to gusty winds and heavy rains. This has raised concerns among commuters and citizens because such accidents can be life-threatening.

Citizens expressed doubts over the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) preventive measures and rain preparedness.

“I have seen huge trees come down on my way home every day for the last week and for someone travelling on a two-wheeler, it is very scary. I wonder why the BBMP authorities do not realise the extent of damage it can cause,” said Suhas Kumar, a resident of RR Nagar. 

Last July, a youngster from Chikkaballapur, who was in the city was grievously injured after a giant peepal tree at the Cunningham Road-Millers Road junction came down crashing on him. The injured had to undergo multiple surgeries over several months. “This could happen to anyone, given the number of trees coming down every day,” said Devaraju K, a resident of Rajajinagar. 

Vertical development

However, the BBMP officials attributed the tree fall in the city to increased vertical development and lack of pre-monsoon rains. He maintained that they had removed many dry trees and pruned many others well before the pre-monsoon showers.

“If we observe, all the trees that have come down over the last week are green trees and not dry ones. Now that the number of high-rise buildings in the city has increased, many trees tend to grow linearly to attract sunlight. Thus, the trunk and roots are weak and such trees are vulnerable. However, since they are green, we cannot determine if they would come down easily,” said BLG Swamy, Deputy Conservator of Forests (BBMP).

He added that the lack of pre-monsoon rains and carelessness while constructing new buildings had also affected the strength of the trees. “During construction, many of them damage the lateral roots of trees, weakening them,” Swamy said.

However, Professor T V Ramachandra from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) opined that the mismanagement of trees and lack of knowledge in handling them was the root cause behind such disasters.

“The roadworks many times result in the concretisation of tree roots. The roots cannot breathe and there is no nutrition exchange. Such trees eventually grow weak. Also, tree branches are not pruned regularly. There is hardly any accountability or transparency in such works,” Prof Ramachandra said. 

BBMP officials said that 11 additional teams with 88 members had been deployed now to ensure they attended to emergencies. 

Citizens request removal of 1200 trees

Two months ago the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) opened a helpline to specifically address weak trees and according to sources in just two months BBMP received a request to cut down 1200 trees in the city. However the authorities said that they assessed the condition of the trees and decided to cut down only 300 trees and took up pruning of another 600 trees.

“Sometimes the residents demand that healthy trees also be removed. Given the loss of green cover we also responsibly decide if the tree is dangerous or not and then take a call” a senior BBMP official said.