Our trees need their breathing space

Last week, a huge tree died in our Garden City. It was healthy and nobody uprooted it. It was sacrificed on the altar of unscientific road construction. Adugodi Main Road’s white topping (cement) proved to be a bane for the tree.

For the past six months, the civic administration has been asphalting hundreds of kilometres of the road network in the city.

The officials who have been publishing tenders for road work are definitely not aware of the ground situation. In the given bureaucratic set-up, the tender is given to some department and the monitoring is a nameless official’s job. There is no coordination between the various agencies and trees are the victims of such a system.

This is what happens on the ground. Roots of roadside trees do not get space to spread and hold the soil, because of tarring or road construction. When there is no soil to hold, the roots cannot penetrate deep and trees get uprooted even when there is no wind. The fatality rate is higher for the exotic tree varieties.

This is due to the fact that they have shallow roots. As such, trees lack the open space for roots to spread, and ageing trees with old root systems are first casualties. During construction of roads, roots get cut or damaged and this makes trees prone to falling when there is a strong breeze or heavy rain.

Experts suggest that a minimum radius of 10 inches around the base of a tree is must for its growth and stability. Mayor SK Natraj had promised to provide for such breathing space. However, we are yet to see any movement on the ground.

What we require on the roadside is a tree like peepal, banyan, tamarind, jamun or neem.

The civic administration held a record-breaking sapling plantation day. Nearly 5 lakh saplings were planted and that was the claim because we do not have any official documents. Even if we concede that the civic administration distributed 5 lakh saplings, which variety of plants were chosen? It is very important that the public is aware of these drives and the nature (species) of trees that are going to ‘green’ this city.

In New Delhi, there is a Greening Action Plan that is prepared annually with targets and goals. Saplings are provided free and students are encouraged to take part in tree-planting drives. Yet, the national capital has lost over 50,000 trees to the Commonwealth Games.

Delhi also has a legislation, the Delhi Tree Preservation Act, which mandates that for every tree that is cut, compensatory afforestation must be carried out in the ratio of 1:10. But it has been observed that land is not available for plantation. Even when land is available, the wrong types of saplings are planted. Hence, their survival rate is less than 50%. Therefore, why contribute to the destruction of trees as new saplings cannot compensate for a mature tree. Let us grow up and protect the tree wealth.