The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike on Wednesday said that the plan to widen Jayamahal Road is still on. According to BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, the civic agency has sought the tree authority’s permission for translocation of trees.
“The traffic on this road is unbearable and many citizens have complained of decongestion of traffic along this stretch. If their demand has to be fulfilled, then there is no other option but to widen the road,” Manjunath Prasad said.
The BBMP has consulted experts from the Institute of Wood Science and Technology for translocation of the trees on Jayamahal Road.
“In the first phase, 42 trees will be translocated, but there is a possibility of translocating more. We are waiting for the tree authority’s permission,” the commissioner added.
However, the Assistant Conservator of Forests, N Shanthakumar BBMP said that the BBMP Commissioner heads the 13-member tree committee formed for going through the feedback for the proposed road-widening project.
“There is no minimum number of votes for or against a project while looking into the feedback. The BBMP Commissioner, after going through the feedback will decide whether we have to go ahead with the project,” Shanthakumar said.
According to a senior official in the BBMP’s Tree Authority, the cost of the project is yet to be estimated.
“The cost of translocating one tree depends up on the size of the tree, the angle of the canopy, the way its roots have spread across and also the location to which it will be translocated. It is not an easy job. It’s like performing a surgery where many things can go wrong if the right experts are not hired. But it is an expensive job and after receiving feedback from the people, BBMP decided to save these trees and also help decongest the traffic,” the official said.
The official also said one of the major problems faced by the department is that neither the BBMP nor the contractor hired for infrastructure projects want to opt for translocating due to the expenditure.
“For instance, around 800 trees will be cut for the metro project in Whitefield, which is being planned. When the survey team had visited the spot, neither the BBMP nor the contractor spoke of translocating some of these old trees. If we speak up against it, they accuse us of accepting bribes from citizen groups. The contractor also paid money for hacking the 800 trees there. However, BBMP is still thinking about the tree situation there,” the official added.