Trees are disappearing at an alarming rate in Bengaluru, thanks to the utter disregard for the environment shown by the state government, civic authorities and private developers.
But a group of volunteers is doing its bit to save the environment by removing banners, bills and nails from the barks of trees, in a bid to restore Bengaluru’s ‘Garden City’ tag.
The volunteers, who call themselves ‘Reloading Green’ hit the streets every weekend to clean up the trees. Suren, an active member of the group, told The News Minute:
We don’t have a live example of trees dying due to nails pinned on them, but in the long term, it affects the health of the trees. In Chennai, it has been witnessed that some trees have died of diseases due to holes on the barks as a result of the nails.
“We don’t want that to happen, as it will be too late for people to wake up, with trees already being cut for various reasons or in the name of ‘development’,” Suren added.
It is illegal to stick bills on trees according to the Tree Preservation Act and Bangalore Municipal Act. “After removing the posters, we inform the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) and they take whatever action is necessary based on their laws,” Suren said.
“The areas are chosen by the volunteers while on their way to office, depending on where they come across a series of bills stuck to the trees,” Suren said, adding that the group’s next campaign will be carried out on the stretch between HSR Layout and Sarjapur.
Reloaded Green is part of Volunteers for Cause, a larger network of volunteers which works for various social causes.
Government Apathy
In April this year, it was revealed that the BBMP was keen on widening the Jayamahal Road, while ignoring the environmental cost (the project called for the felling of at least 112 trees) and going against a Karnataka HC order passed in 2014.
Moreover, the BBMP’s two green committees responsible for monitoring the city’s tree cover and environmental cost of such projects, have remained non-existent for more than two years.
Before that, in March, it took a spontaneous mass movement by citizens for the state government to scrap the controversial steel flyover project.
(The article was originally published on The News Minute.)
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