Fire Fighting to Build a Fire?

• By Anuja Mirchandaney with inputs from Arun Padaki

“When you cut a tree it is not as simple as just cutting a tree. It is political choice... a social choice”. The statement was made by Clifton D’ Rozario of the Alternative Law Forum referring to the ongoing and proposed tree cutting by the BMP to widen roads and accommodate the increasing traffic in the city.

Some facts: In the case of Mahatma Gandhi Road and Airport Road, the traffic flow pattern and vehicle carrying capacity exceeds limits between 9 am and noon and between 3 pm. and 7 pm. On Nrupatunga Road the carrying capacity exceeds limits between 9 am and 1 pm and between 3 pm and 7 pm. These roads and circles also report the highest pollution levels in Bangalore. (from ' Pollution levels exceeds limit on many city roads with high Vehicular Density’ - B.S. Ramesh, Hindu, 28/04/05). 15,000 new two wheelers and 5000 new cars are added to the roads every month (TOI, 25/10/05).

The problem seems to be two-fold. At a superficial level, it appears that the BMP in a very short sighed way, sees that as the road is a physically limited space, and the volume of traffic is increasing, the solution is to widen the existing road space by chopping trees. The catch is that there is a limit to which even tree cutting can accommodate the ever-growing volume of traffic.

In response to citizens’ protest against the unrestrained tree cutting, the Government appointed a ‘Tree Officer’ in July ’05 whose approval is needed before any tree can be chopped. He can give permission to do this following certain criteria. The tree should pose a danger to traffic, be at risk of falling down in heavy rains/ storm winds, etc. The Tree officer - Deputy Conservator of Forest, Krishna Udapadi, has been appointed by the BMP and the Corporation Council has to endorse anything that comes from his table. “A very good idea”, says Nalini Ramanna, ex programme producer for DD and old Bangalorean, provided he is a man who really cares for trees, acts independently and not as an ‘obedient bureaucrat’. A concern shared by other members of Hasire Usiru (a citizens’ group against tree felling) who feel that pressure from Corporators is likely. The Tree Officer would have been able to function more autonomously if he had remained within the Forest Department instead of being deputed to the Corporation.

Udapadi has been getting requests to remove trees that are close to private parties, either because of the roots growing over a period of time, or to bring the façade of a newly build complex to prominence. This is not as worrying as the larger sinister idea to remove the ‘timber value’ standing on many streets of Bangalore, which the Corporation Council would want to approve. And this is where Mr.Udapadi needs to do the balancing.

Secondly, how effective will one tree officer be for the whole city is a moot point.

In a willing blindness to the important role of the tree in the ecosystem, as carbon dioxide absorber (from vehicular pollution) and oxygen producer, dust collector, filtering ground water, and preventing land slides, several trees are still being cut. One of the recent ones being the one out side the DG/ IG’s office on 21/10/05. With high levels of vehicular pollution, those who suffer the most are the poor, be they the road sweeper, or the traffic cop, and heart and lung related health disorders are the common. Says SG Neginhal, IFS (Retd.), an Indira Priyadarshani awardee for planting 1.5 million trees in this city during his tenure between 1982-87, the time is not far off where we will have to set up oxygen bunks and use oxygen masks!

Also of concern are tree upto 5-600 years old such as the Ficus tree and the Ippe mara in older localities like Chamarajpet, Malleswaram, V.V. Puram and Basavangudi. Instead of being declared ‘heritage trees’ they are also being cut for the purpose of road widening.

At a deeper level one can ask the question, who uses the roads? A large percentage of traffic consists of private vehicles (according to India's Auto Fuel Policy report of 2002, Bangalore had approximately 200,000 motor cars and 900,000 two wheeler as compared to 35,000 public transport buses). The young professional from the IT industry with disposable income and EMI schemes by the dozen. What percentage of the population do they comprise; as compared to say for example the slum dweller? Which leads on to the question is the local government catering to its citizens or to consumers? It appears that the ‘consumer is king’ even on the roads. While private transport is being facilitated, public transport is barred from roads such as Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road.

Neginhal is of the view that only where it is “absolutely necessary” should trees be cut. He points to the example of the road in front of the Ramakrishna Ashram in Basavangudi, where as a result of local residents’ initiatives the trees have not been cut but made into a median or road separator, and the narrower road designated for two wheeler traffic.

Alternatives do exist to the traffic problem, provided Tree Officer Udapadi is allowed to explore them using the expertise and assistance of concerned citizens of Bangalore. Else with the current indiscriminate tree cutting practices of the BMP, which is nothing but fire fighting we are looking at grave environmental damage to our city with enormous human costs.

Ends