Hyderabad: Nearly 2,000 trees felled for flyovers around KBR Park

Nearly 2,000 trees around KBR Park in Hyderabad have been felled for flyovers and underpasses, triggering concerns over green cover loss. GHMC says translocation plans are underway, while civic groups protest large-scale tree removal under infrastructure expansion works.

Hyderabad: Hundreds of saplings planted nearly a decade ago during the then BRS government, on centre medians and along roadsides around KBR Park, grew into trees that provided shade to commuters travelling through Film Nagar, Jubilee Hills, and Banjara Hills.

Now, they have been chopped down to make way for seven flyovers and underpasses, leading to a major loss of green cover in the heart of the city.

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Close to 2,000 trees in three key areas of Jubilee Hills Check Post, Mugdha Junction, and Indo-American Cancer Hospital, and seven junctions were cut down for flyovers and underpasses around KBR Park. The tree felling was carried out as part of infrastructure works on centre medians and flyovers, and on both sides of key stretches.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had taken up a tree enumeration ahead of the flyovers and underpasses works. According to information shared by officials, around 1,200 trees faced the axe at seven junctions of Jubilee Hills Check Post, KBR Park Entrance Junction, Jubilee Hills Road No 45 Junction, Film Nagar Junction, Maharaja Agrasen Island Junction, Indo-American Cancer Hospital Junction, and Mugdha Traffic Junction. Another 800 trees at Jubilee Hills Check Post, Mugdha, and Indo-American Cancer Hospital were also chopped off.

Meanwhile, the GHMC Urban Biodiversity wing is yet to decide and identify the location for translocation of around 50 trees. Sources said the location would be chosen ahead of the onset of the monsoon.

A senior GHMC UBD wing official stated that there are no trees that are more than two/three/four decades old, and all trees that are affected are 10 to 12 years old only.

The previous BRS government had initiated flyovers under the ‘Strategic Road Development Project’ (SRDP) and assessed that only 1,400 trees would be affected during tree enumeration, whereas the Congress government, the number of flyovers to be cut down increased, and seven underpasses too were newly proposed. As a result, more trees were affected.

Meanwhile, civilian organisations and NGOs continued their protest against the massive green cover vanished after 2,000 trees were chopped off.