Hyderabad: Over 10,000 trees face the axe to make way for SCB elevated corridors

More than 10,500 trees in Secunderabad Cantonment are set to be affected for two elevated corridors, with 4,200 to be translocated and 3,300 felled. HMDA and other agencies are carrying out the process while also planning 20,000 compensatory saplings.

Hyderabad: A huge slice of greenery in the Secunderabad Cantonment areas is vanishing as decades-old trees are being axed to make way for the proposed two elevated corridors.

A six-member tree protection committee headed by Chief Conservator of Forests G Ramalingam of the Telangana Forest Department conducted a detailed inspection of the two elevated corridors in Secunderabad Cantonment and enumerated the trees.

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Apart from the tree protection committee, other stakeholders including the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) and Defence Estate Office, Telangana Circle, took part in the enumeration of trees that are affected to facilitate the development of the new infrastructure project.

“Over 10,500 trees will be affected to facilitate the construction of the elevated corridors. Of these, 4,200 trees will be translocated within the Secunderabad Cantonment area itself. Another 3,300 trees will be axed,” a senior HMDA Urban Forest Wing official told ‘Telangana Today’.

On the Paradise Circle to Dairy Farm (Suchitra Junction) corridor coming up on National Highway 44, the tree protection committee identified 2,000 trees on both sides of the right of way and simultaneously, 1,500 trees were identified on another elevated corridor’s right of way between Gymkhana Ground and Hakimpet Air Force Station on State Highway-1 (Rajiv Rahadari), the official said.

The remaining trees were identified in different locations like Bison Polo Ground, Gymkhana Ground, SCB properties, private properties and open Defence and Cantonment land parcels, the HMDA official said.

With the approval of the tree protection committee, the process of tree felling and translocation started recently in Secunderabad Cantonment. The age of the trees was between 50 and five years, the official added.

Keeping in view the huge chunk of greenery that is vanishing for the key infrastructure project in the Cantonment, the HMDA has decided to plant 20,000 saplings as compensatory plantation to mitigate the loss and restore the ecological balance, said Director, Urban Forest Wing, HMDA, VSNV Prasad.

Rare species, ornamental, and sacred trees affected:

• Neem

• Apricot/black jamun

• Tamarind

• Peepul (sacred fig)

• Ashoka

• Subabul

• Bauhinia

• Nemali Nara (Indian Elm)

• Chinese banyan

• Kadamba

• Parkia

• Pongamia

• Akash Mallige and other species.

Tree translocation procedure:

-Condition of the soil where the tree has to be transplanted is checked before pit is dug

-Pit size has to be in accordance with the root ball of the tree

-Root pruning is sometimes required before transplanting a tree

– Time allowed between preparation and final lifting for the development of new roots for the growth of the transplanted tree

-Crane lifts the packed tree and a trolley or truck used to transport the tree