BDA fells trees first, issues work order later

In what may be termed a blatant disregard for law, it has come to light that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) surreptitiously allowed felling of 34 trees without a work order at Koramangala.

To cover up its act, BDA issued the work order three days after the ‘job’ was done.
The alleged illegality has come as a shock for the residents of Koramangala who have been fighting tooth and nail against the controversial Sirsi Circle-Agara Junction signal-free corridor.

Documents in possession of Deccan Herald show that the BBMP, in September 2011, had given permission to the BDA for felling 88 trees across four junctions to construct grade separators, as part of the signal-free corridor project. Later, there was a brief lull in executing the project.

On April 11 this year, the Forest wing of the BDA wrote to the Infrastructure Department 6, under the Engineering Department, seeking its assent for the felling of the trees and information about them.

The information sought from the Infrastructure Department 6, according to the file noting of the BDA Forest Department, included the number of trees, their identification and their girth. This was a pre-requisite for the Forest department to call for tenders.

However, the Forest department decided to ‘move on’ by ‘illegally’ granting permission to a contractor for felling 34 trees on May 25 and 26 without calling for tenders.

There were no work orders issued in this regard and even the timber movement permit was not issued to the contractor. Following public angst over the felling of the trees, the BBMP, on May 27, decided to issue a notice to the BDA, asking it to suspend the felling of trees as it was found violating certain approval norms.

On May 29 the BDA floated ‘tenders’ for the project, 72 hours after the work was executed. What more, the BDA Forest Department then held an auction on June 8 to dispose the timber. The total revenue accrued from 34 trees was a paltry Rs 23,500.