Tree walk advocates sustainable rail development in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Namma Bengaluru Foundation, in collaboration with North Bangalore Post, Jhatkhaa, and citizens, cyclists, residents, and environmentalists, conducted a tree walk and inspection in the city on Saturday. About a dozen citizens surveyed more than 100 trees on Yelahanka Main Road along the suburban rail route.

"We found about three trees infested with termites and which is about to die and we have instructed the BBMP forest department to check and plant new saplings. This exercise was to Tree Map the location and ensure that the tree space does not get lost like how footpaths have been hardscaped or trees cut have been not replanted inside the city," according to a statement.  

The group stumbled across trees numbered by the suburban rail for their K-Ride project near Allalasandra, underneath the bridge leading to the Judicial Layout. “These healthy trees are about 40 years old and do not fall in the alignment of the railway tracks. We mapped about 100 trees, out of which about 60 were numbered, and we found that more than 50% (35) of these trees can be saved,” read the release. The group urges the K-Ride, Bengaluru Sub-Urban Rail Project, and the BBMP to relook at the tree felling plan for suburban rail and reconsider how they could reduce the felling of 33,000 trees.