What is the extended life of a translocated tree? Five years at the maximum, says the Manikonda Municipality, which has axed a number of translocated trees without any approval from the appropriate authorities.
Some 40 fully grown trees were cut down for creation of a cricket ground in the open space in the backyard of the Lanco Hills township, between March, 2022 and April, 2023.
All these trees, mostly Peltophorum and an occasional Tella Maddi (Terminalia arjuna), were given a second chance for survival after they were removed from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, for a flyover project.
The trees, 100 in number, were given a nod by the tree protection committee for felling to make way for the the flyover between the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and the Malaysian Township in the Kukatpally Housing Board area in 2017.
The translocation endeavour made it to the headlines and was hailed as the citizens’ initiative, as the required funds were raised from the citizens and voluntary organisations.
City-based Vata Foundation had to carry out the translocation in a rather hurried manner. GHMC had initially refused permission, fearing that the time consuming procedure could delay the flyover.
“The project anyway got delayed due to right of way issues, and we were given just two days within which to finish the translocation,” P.Uday Krishna from the Vata Foundation recalled. There was no time to prepare the root balls, so the trees were merely uprooted after pruning of the branches.
A total of 78 trees were translocated to the open area in Manikonda, part of which was used as cremation grounds. Twenty more trees were moved to private premises.
Almost all the trees withstood the shock and survived fabulously, recalls Mr. Uday Krishna who visited them from time to time. Satellite images of Google Earth vouch for the verdant growth up to December 2021. Starting from March, 2022, the decline started, and the latest images from April, 2023 show that almost all the trees have been axed, except those on the cremation grounds.
Mr. Uday Krishna, who recently visited the site, informed that there is no trace of about 35 trees, while only stumps were left of several others.
“I am at a loss for words. I moved them here upon assurances of the then sarpanch, but they are gone,” he says.
Then Sarpanch K. Narender Reddy is now the vice-chairperson of the Manikonda Municipality. Over four years ago, he was hailed by media as the person behind the greenery in the funeral grounds. When enquired about the loss of trees, Mr. Narender Reddy said he was not aware of the felling.
“We merely passed the resolution for the cricket ground. We have a Forest Department person in the Municipal body who looks after the tree felling permissions. I am not aware of the procedure,” he said.
Municipal Commissioner K. Phalgun Kumar, when approached for his version, said no forest permissions were obtained, as the trees were ‘wilted’ and did not survive the translocation. The trees were felled for making way for the cricket ground, and several thousands of saplings were planted and distributed by the municipality instead, he justified.
