Hyderabad Chevella Road to witness green murder

Hyderabad: Close to 1,000 banyan and peepal trees on the Hyderabad-Chevella-Bijapur highway, which have withstood the vagaries of nature for decades, could go under the axe if the National Highway Authority of India has its way.

Nature lovers and conscious citizens are coming together to plead with the government to withdraw the move. As many as 14,000 people signed a petition in the last few days and submitted it to Government of Telangana, Project Director, Hyderabad, of National Highway Authority, Conservator of Forests, Hyderabad, and Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Many online petitions are signed by environmentalist and nature lovers in Hyderabad to stop the cutting of banyan trees on the Hyd-Chevella road. Uday Peddireddi, a well-known environmentalist, who has conducted many such activities through the years towards saving the environment, is rallying the people for the cause.

Around 9,300 trees on the road between Moinabad and Manneguda on the Hyderabad-Chevella-Bijapur highway have been marked for the axe in a road-widening project by the National Highway Authority of India. Of those trees, 1,000 are stately old banyans.

The petitions are addressed to the Government of Telangana, Project Director Hyderabad National Highway Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests, and Conservator of Forests Hyderabad. Even over 80-year-old banyan trees on our highways are under threat.

Over 300 fully grown majestic banyans need to be saved. Due to two recent road-widening projects, from Chegunta to Medak and from Aler to Warangal, we have lost almost a thousand banyans, peepals and other grand old tree species that were chopped down without a thought, said Uday.

According to Global Forest Watch, India has lost more than 1,20,000 hectares of primary forests in the last five years alone. In all probability, we have also lost an equal amount of green cover to road-widening projects and related infrastructure development.

These petitions ask the people to wake up and understand the seriousness of the situation and point to the increasingly homeless wildlife invading human habitations.

By Maina Manga