Hyd tree lovers concerned after 40 trees pruned on Suchitra-Kompally road

Hyderabad: Just as they are continuing their fight for the Chevella Banyans, the tree lovers in the city once again are apprehensive about the trees on the Suchitra-Kompally stretch of NH44. Concerns arose after they found that over 40 trees have been pruned.

It was Anand Vishwanadha, a member of the Nature Lovers of Hyderabad, who noticed the pruned trees on the evening of 8 October. Anand, a resident of Alwal, was travelling on the Suchitra-Kompally crossroads stretch when he noticed the pruned branches of some of the trees. "Almost all of the pruned trees are Peepals. Around 5-7 banyans have been pruned too. Most of the pruned trees looked like they were healthy," said Anand.

"Other notable species on this stretch are Copper Pods, Tree Jasmine, and a chain of around 100 Banyans. All of these are untouched as of now," Anand added.

The tree lovers of the city fear that these trees are being pruned for translocation prior to highway expansion. "I am scared at what the loss of tree cover will lead to in terms of maximum temperatures and torrential rainfall," added Anand.

Natasha Ramanathan, a member of Save Chevella Banyans, said, "If we allow this to happen, we as citizens are helping the NHAI set a precedent. Most of the national highways pass through cities and just because it is passing through a city, it does not mean you can fell all the trees on either side without adequate permissions which is what is being done. It is a much smaller stretch than the Chevella and the trees are also not so old."

The tree lovers fear a similar fate for the Chevella Banyans. The over 100-year-old Chevalla Banyans on the Hyderabad-Vikarabad route are under threat of extinction after plans to expand National Highway into a four-lane highway came up in 2018. Recently, the tree lovers in the city geo-tagged over 900 banyans on this route.