Published on Dwarka Express on 19.5.24

During the last week, 1000s of grown-up trees have fallen in Bangalore. No surprise! After 6 months of dry spell, the sky tore off to devastate Bangalore with heavy downpour. Bangalore is not just an isolated case. Climate activists from Delhi were active in social media, lamenting over the uprooting of large number of trees during recent rains. Mumbai’s hailstorm is devastating. When we open dailies, we invariably come across on or other grumbling and showing deep concern over the uprooting of trees.  Trees falling during heavy downpour is not a big deal. It is happening all over India. If one examines the reason, he will realize that it is mostly due to concretization or digging. People dig the ground for cabling purposes and roots get damaged extensively. Most of the trees which were planted long back lose their roots due to road expansion and construction activities in their proximity. It is essential to know how much efforts we have taken to save existing trees. At the same time, we also need to accept that there is no need to nurture the grown-up trees.

One glaring reality is that the urbanization has taken its toll. The saplings planted on road sides are hard hit. Either they are felled to give way for road expansion or the roots are cut due to cabling works done. India sees a hell lot of cabling work, sometimes for telephone lines, or electrification or otherwise roads are dug for laying huge sewerage pipelines. For instance, the Airport metro of Delhi is an engineering marvel, but if one travels from airport to New Delhi Railway station in this rapid metro, he will be passing through the central ridge which is at the verge of Aravalli range. One can see the pristine for forests which remained untouched for centuries have been split into two halves to give way for the tunnel as well as pillars. Underground aquifers and roots of old trees were the causalities in the making of the state-of-the-art metro rail. A deep-dive into the background that leads to the fall of trees in Bangalore gave us an idea that the uprooting of the trees is either due to heavy downpour or gusty winds. The municipal or forest authorities are not showing much interest in re-erecting the uprooted trees, for the obvious reason that they must take extra load to bring a JCB or horticulture workers and engage them for the whole day. Secondly, they are also apprehensive that such storms and heavy rains would repeat again and the volume of work might become multifold. It is apparent that the uprooting of trees is mostly due to man-made changes to the soil around the tree. Only a negligible percentage of trees fall due to aging. Given the scene, it is essential for responsible citizens to identify the trees in danger zone and make timely intervention by giving them clinical support such as investigating the vulnerability of trees to natural disasters and taking up with authorities to prevent uprooting of trees due to such disasters.

Prevention is better than cure! (photo courtesy: Social media post)