BBMP plans tree-strength survey

A day after several trees were uprooted in pre-monsoon showers in the City, BBMP has decided to conduct a tree-strength survey.

Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy disclosed this to reporters, during an inspection of the rain-hit areas in Bangalore South on Wednesday.

He said the BBMP will conduct a special meeting with the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) on Thursday in this regard.

At the meeting, the Palike will demand a better show by the 20 teams of the Forest Department, which have been constituted to meet rain-related contingencies. It will also delve on planting of saplings of long-lasting trees.

The plan to conduct a survey has come about when thundershowers uprooted many trees and broke several branches in the last few days.

Apart from the uprooting of trees, several areas were flooded, man-holes overflowed and a wall collapsed. A tree came crashing on a house at Padmanabha Nagar, while a tree fell on a electric transformer in Banashankari II Stage, snapping power supply.

The Forest Division of the Palike did not survey the trees during summer. Deputy Conservator of Forests Krishnappa said that it was difficult to predict how the branches give way. “The thundershowers in the last few days were strong enough to uproot trees,” he added.

Sources in the Palike told Deccan Herald that for the last three years, the tree-strength survey had not taken place in the Garden City. The failure had not only resulted in damages to private properties and injuries to individuals, it had also claimed an auto-driver’s life, last year.

Other plans

As part of its rain-preparedness, the Palike is mulling over setting up Assembly-wise contingency teams. Each team will comprise labourers, a four-wheeler and necessary equipment, the Mayor said.

The floor leader of the BBMP Council, N Nagaraju, who accompanied the Mayor, said the Palike will frame a rule, fixing responsibility on the owners of the buildings which are under construction, for dumping construction material on the road. He said that the construction material choked manholes.