Hafeezpet government school turns home to six transplanted trees

Hyderabad: Hafeezpet government school has turned home to six trees, which would have been axed in November 2018 if not transplanted here, thanks to the Vata foundation. The foundation had transplanted the trees from Kothaguda junction to the school, as a flyover is planned for the location.

The Tree Protection Committee had permitted the felling of trees, as a flyover was being constructed in Kothaguda Junction. Uday Krishna and a team of volunteers got permission from the government to transplant some trees so that at least some are saved from translocation. The team found that Hafeezpet government school, once barren, was around a kilometre away from the junction and a perfect place for the trees.

Soon, Uday sought permission from the school’s principal Yadhaiah, who agreed to bring in the trees. Uday took care of these trees for a year, watering them regularly. Now, after a year, all the transplanted trees have survived. Uday says, “When inspected, these trees were marked as species that won’t survive the translocation. However, all of them have grown strong enough.”

The trees original location shows no sign of there ever being any trees in the area. The junction has turned into a concrete destination, with roads on both sides becoming home to many new shops. The officials started the construction of the flyover, which was proposed last year, in March 2019.

The Vata Foundation started transplanting trees in 2010. While speaking to NewsMeter, Uday said, “There are many such barren lands that need trees, and there are hundreds of trees which can be transplanted. When trees are anyways going to be cut-off, why don’t we try transplanting them? Even if only a few of them survived, we still saved them.”