Save over 300 banyan trees on Hyd-Chevella road from being axed: Activists demand

A petition started by Uday Krishna Pedireddi from the Vata Foundation has garnered around 13,000 signatures.

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An online petition to save roughly 300 banyan trees that are at the risk of being axed for a road widening project on the Hyderabad-Chevella highway is gaining traction, with close to 13,000 people having signed it.

“Over 300 fully grown majestic Banyans need to be saved. While we ask where our birds are disappearing or why monkeys are invading our cities or towns, we do not stand up to protect their environments. We have lost thousands of these ‘Trees of Life’ and if we do not act now, we will lose the few remaining ones. Similar trees have been lost across the country and this is not an issue confined to Hyderabad,” the petition started by Uday Krishna Pedireddi from the Vata Foundation states.

Many city-based activists are also sharing the petition, urging people to sign it and support the cause.

Speaking to TNM, Uday says that his foundation has even reached out to the state government in Telangana and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), volunteering to translocate the trees free of cost, in order to save them from the axe. The process of tree translocation involves the trees being pruned and uprooted, instead of being chopped, and being re-planted at a different location.

“The project is to convert a two-lane highway connecting Hyderabad to Bijapur into a four-lane road. The widening has been completed a little beyond Manneguda, which comes after Chevella while travelling from Hyderabad, and it is here that the banyan trees are being removed to facilitate the work. I have reached out to the state’s Roads & Buildings Department and NHAI and asked for space on the sides after the road is widened to translocate the trees, at no cost,” he says.

“Making it happen and saving the trees is the most important thing right now, so I am telling the government, I will do it at my cost. They don’t need to pay for it,” Uday says, adding that the project would be budget-driven and a contractor would not be willing to accept more work as he has already gone through the bidding process.

The NGO has also turned to fundraising to help them execute the work if the government agrees.

“We don’t raise any funds directly on our name. For example, if we hire a JCB, we tell the donor to pay for it directly. So far, one person has offered three earthmovers, but we might need six or more,” Uday says.

“The main cost of translocation is because a few 100-ton cranes are required the lift the trees, transport them and plant them at their destination, which roughly comes up to Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per tree. But in this case, we would trim the trees, uproot them and just move them to a new pit on the side using Poclain machines, thereby cutting down the cost massively,” he explains.

If given the green signal, Uday hopes to complete the entire work within a month and in under Rs 30 lakh.

“Banyan trees are very hardy. They will survive,” he says, narrating a recent success story where two trees that were translocated to a school from the Srisailam highway had survived.

After taking to social media and repeatedly tweeting to the Telangana Chief Minister, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President KT Rama Rao and the NHAI, Uday has finally got a response.

100's of trees going...Hyd-Bijapur Highway expansion wrks... we can translocate to the side of the new road if given space and basic equipment. pls help us save the environment@KTRTRS @KTRoffice @KTR_News pic.twitter.com/3FcqYUH9PD April 19, 2019

though a NH, these tree are our future. almost allmcan survive and continue supporting the 1000s of life forms. Beg/Borrow/Steal, we will do the dogs work.. allow us to save the last remaining banyans... pls stop felling @TelanganaCMO @KTRTRS pic.twitter.com/YxmWlJ6vks — Vata Foundation (@vata_foundation) April 20, 2019

“The NHAI has said that it will look into my request. We will do a proper survey in a few days and work out the logistics. If they are willing to give me equipment, I am willing to take but I don’t want any funds from them,” Uday says.

“My approach makes it difficult for the government to ignore us… many people are coming forward to help and we are offering to translocate the trees free of cost, but at the same time, by replanting the trees there itself, I am holding the government responsible for maintaining them,” he adds.