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Excavations for construction near trees reason for uprooting during showers: BBMP DCF

Chandra Prabhu | NT

Bengaluru: If Bengaluru is seeing many of its trees getting uprooted in the gusty winds and heavy rainfall in the past two days, blame it on lateral roots being cut in building excavations and sunlight being blocked by high-rise buildings, contends BLG Swamy, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) at the cvic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The city wiitnessed as many as 26 cases of tree fall in Monday’s showers, and 152 till 9 pm on Wednesday.

“Sunlight is important for a tree. It tries to reach the light by growing linearly or reaching out with the branches. With four storeyed buildings all around, trees keep growing becoming unstable and posing a danger whenever strong winds occur,” he said.

“The roots of the trees,” Swamy explained, “grow either straight down or laterally.'' Due to infrastructure work carried out by both government agencies and builders, the lateral roots are getting cut leaving the trees shaky,” he explained.

It is necessary for departments involved in infrastructure work to understand the consequences of their actions but sadly they don’t despite repeated reminders,” Swamy said.

In a bid to stop trees from geting uprooted, the BBMP is planning to plant six saplings near those identified as vulnerable. “The tree will be cut only after the saplings grow for five years,” he concluded.

Concretisation near trees the reason for uprooting: Tree doctor

Vijay Nishant, urban conservationist and ‘Tree doctor’ blamed concretisation near trees as the main reason for their collapse.

“Adding cement near trees damages the roots,” he explained.He lamented the lack of understanding in government departments on how to save trees. “It should be understood that trees need space to grow by themselves. Concrete leads to imbalanced growth,'' he added.