Hyderabad: Even as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has agreed to translocate 150 banyan trees in Chevella and preserve 765 in situ of the 911 trees mentioned in its report, a fresh assessment has flagged serious discrepancies on the ground.
As part of the survey, two students of master’s in forestry (natural resources management), with the help of Vata Foundation, studied each tree to determine its current situation, and found that only 867 trees exist at the site, with most damaged to some extent. Of these, at least 184 banyans were burnt at the base, while over 300 showed varying degrees of damage, including burnt branches, partially burnt trunks, and heavy pruning or trimming.“Several trees were found dead, while some could not be located at all. Some were uprooted and lying on the roadside,” said Boda Vijendar, one of the researchers. The trees that were burnt at the base were unlikely to survive. “We saw a few dead trees, too, lying on the ground, which died in the same manner — burnt at the base,” said L Siddhartha, another researcher.Earlier too, environmentalists had warned that even as the banyans were to be preserved in situ, they would not survive as they need space to grow. Environmental activist Uday Krishna of Vata Foundation cautioned that the plan could backfire. “A banyan tree needs 360-degree space to grow. Confining it to a 1.5-m median with highways on both sides is the most short-sighted thing to do,” he said. “Even now, the Chevella banyans growing along the road are losing branches due to lack of aerial root support.
Restricting them further to a median will only increase the risk of falling branches, endangering motorists,” he added.He further shared that the petition filed before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) focused solely on saving banyans, overlooking nearly 9,331 trees, as mentioned in an earlier NHAI report, of other species along the stretch. “Neither the NHAI report nor the NGT petition mentions these trees. What will happen to those trees? Most of them also have disappeared,” he said.Natasha Ramaratnam, one of the petitioners in the case, said all trees in line with the banyans will be saved.
“The NHAI had changed the alignment to include the trees as avenue plantations or trees in the median, so the other species will also be protected in a similar manner. Our petition was specifically about the banyans as they are heritage trees, hence, we could not add other trees. But in the new alignment, some of the other species will also be saved,” said Ramaratnam.Meanwhile, the locals have contended the move, saying that adding trees to the median could be life-threatening. Dileep Reddy, who owns a petrol pump along the highway, said: “This is a bad idea. It will hinder visibility. Who will prune the branches regularly? During thunderstorms, the branches can easily fall on people or vehicles, increasing the chances of accidents. Most mishaps on this road occur near the banyans, and keeping the trees in the middle of the highway will only add to the risk,” he said.
