Rapid urbanization for the sake of the development of the human race has had an alarming adverse impact on nature. The same is about to happen in Hyderabad’s suburbs (Chevella), where above 1100 age-old banyan trees contribute to the city’s green cover. These trees are now about to be fell for a highway expansion project which will not only disturb ecology but erase a significant part of history that’s still standing strong and very much alive.
Thankfully a group of eco-warriors from the city has come forward to stop the authorities from doing so. Over 200 members of ‘Nature Lovers of Hyderabad’ gathered at a location, some 45 km away from Hyderabad, in Telangana to protest and save the banyan trees. They lit diyas in front of the trees and took a pledge to protect them, and many tied threads of friendship and love around the trees. Some even showcased paintings and posters in support of the Chevella Banyans.
Besides this, the group has also launched an online petition to voice their cause. More than 44,000 people have signed it so far.
The banyans and other 9,000 trees located near Chevella form a canopy on both sides of the Hyderabad-Manneguda highway. People claim that the trees were initially planted by the Nizams about 100 years ago, which adds heritage value to them. The group members even stress that the trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere and are the sentinels which ensure that rainwater from the hills does not flood Hyderabad.
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“The birds that live in and around the banyans and whose lifecycle is intrinsically linked to them will lose their habitat if the trees are felled,” noted birder and writer, Aasheesh Pittie.
“Even if the government offers to plant new saplings, or translocate the trees, it’s not the same. All environmental conditions have changed now and we do not know if the new saplings can replace these trees. When you translocate a tree, its branches and roots are chopped off, and they don’t remain the same. We appeal to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to shelf the project,” urged Sadhana Ramchander, a member of the group ‘Nature Lovers of Hyderabad’.
This is not the only area that is subject to deforestation but the last-remaining scrub forests of Mudimyal and Kandlapally – home to many grassland animals, including the migrating Harriers and the rare Tawny Eagles (listed as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List) are also about to have a similar fate.
The highway expansion project was attempted earlier in 2019, but it halted due to a lack of funds and pressure created by environmental groups to save the banyan trees. Things once again gained momentum after the recent sanction by the Centre.