Activists have welcomed the move especially for the maintenance clause of three years in the tender itself
Once called the Garden City, Bengaluru has been reduced to a concrete jungle with the green cover projected to shrink to as low as 2.96% by 2020 from 68.2% in 1973. With authorities turning a blind eye for years in times of rapid urbanisation and concretisation, a new move by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has made greens hopeful in restoring some of the lost tree cover. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike which had earmarked Rs 5 crore for tree plantation in its budget in February, had invited tenders to plant 2.5 lakh tree saplings and maintain them for three years in all 198 wards of the city. A source connected to the development, said, “We are now assessing the bids for street-side plantation of trees. A decision will be taken soon by the BBMP Commissioner on this as soon as the Model Code of Conduct put in place for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections is lifted. Work order will be issued soon before the MCC is lifted if the EC gives permission.” He added, “We will also utilise the funds that were unused in the previous few years.” It has been widely reported how the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the Bangalore Development Authority did not plant a single tree in the last two years as tree felling continued unabated for infrastructural growth. Activists welcome the move especially for the maintenance clause of three years in the tender itself as in the past there has been no account of survivability of trees planted by the civic body. Urban ecologist, Vijay Nishanth, said, “This extended maintenance clause is very good. We have also asked the BBMP Forest Department to ask the contractor to maintain a digital record of watering details and corresponding growth of the saplings.” Similarly, veteran environmentalist and retired IAS officer AN Yellappa Reddy said the extended maintenance period will see a bigger success compared to previous such drives. However, he opined for a longer maintenance period would have proved even more beneficial. “The maintenance period should have been made to five years by that we could have ensured better survivability of the saplings. Also, the project will be successful if there is a pre-defined design protocol to plant what trees and where,” he added. While the move has made some hopeful, experts opine that a lot will depend on the implementation and good will of the BBMP and the contractor. “Once the trees are planted there has to be accountablity on where the trees are planted and what is their condition. The trees have to be planted in streets and open spaces and not somewhere in abandoned government land. Unless they are maintained in a system of open mapping platforms, it will be another exercise of waste of public money,” Harini Nagendra, Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University, said.
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