300 trees uprooted in rain, green cover further depleted

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Data from the forest wing of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) shows that more than 300 trees across the city have been uprooted due to heavy rains and strong winds in the past few days.

On Sunday, June 2, The city saw its wettest June, reportedly in 133 years as it received around 111.7mm of rainfall according to the Meteorological Department (IMD).

On the same day, 292 complaints of trees falling were received by the control room of which 272 have been attended to.

South zone with 98 fallen trees and West zone with 81 such trees made up the lion’s share of the loss. From Sunday till Wednesday, the number of fallen trees has gone up to 326.

“It is the first time the city is seeing more than 300 trees fall,” said Vijay Nishant, urban conservationist and ‘Tree Doctor.’

“The main reason is unplanned concretisation around the trees. Most of the uprooted trees, despite having healthy canopies, have their roots choked,” he added.

Earlier News Trail had reported that the BBMP’s Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) B L G Swamy had admitted a lack of coordination with the infrastructure departments on laying concrete around avenues and footpath trees. This has exposed the negligence of the civic body.

“It is important that people know symptoms of a tree which is about to fall, and convey it to the Palike,” he added.

According to a Bengaluru-based tree planting guide, Installation of root barriers can help prevent haphazard growth of roots. This helps in preventing damage to infrastructure. The barriers can be corrosion resistant metals, or strong plastics which do not allow roots to grow.

However, a mesh like barrier can be installed to allow percolation of water. The guide also says that barriers have rescued trees from getting uprooted. In 2017, two boys had saved a fig tree, home to birds from being cut, as the roots were damaging the sewage lines.

People should look out out for detached branches and dead trees nearby to identify dangerous trees. Previous infrastructure work near the tree should also be looked into.