It is a Herculean task to save any tree in Telangana, even if the powers that be wish to do so. This is what volunteers of the Vata Foundation (VF) realised after saving a giant banyan tree, estimated to be 100 years old, in Suddala village near Sircilla on Monday.
With new offshoots growing on top of the uprooted tree and efforts by the local people to save it attracted the attention of Rajya Sabha MP Santosh Kumar. His office requested VF to take up the task assuring necessary assistance of local authorities.
Eight VF members from the city were able to not only save the main tree, about 45-foot tall, but also the two off-shoots of about 15-20 feet by successfully translocating them. The smaller trees were translocated to the nearby Jillella village last week.
But, to save the bigger one, they had to endure official apathy and bureaucratic red tape as they were not allowed to ‘replant’ it in a pre-designated spot identified by the top district authorities inside the Collectorate complex in Sircilla as the police claimed it to be their “land”.
“We had a harrowing wait of nearly five hours as an alternate rocky site was offered which was not suitable for the tree to survive and we were running out of time. After many calls, we were allowed to replant the tree 10 yards from the earlier chosen site on Sunday,” informed one of the volunteers.
No support
Prior to this, departments tasked to cooperate with the green volunteers by the MP’s office were obtuse in their attitude about providing necessary infrastructure help. “We had to hire the crane and trailer from Hyderabad, for which he paid from our own pocket. We were not even given drinking water or any labour support,” said another volunteer, wishing to be remain anonymous.
Founder-Trustee of the foundation, P. Udaykrishna apparently had to contact the MP’s office to complete the successful translocation for the big tree. “We are happy as we got an opportunity to save this giant. There were issues but with the intervention of the higher ups, we could complete our work. We have been assured that our costs of around ₹2.5 lakh will also be reimbursed,” he told The Hindu.
