Meera Bhardwaj:
Although Karnataka Govt issued orders for safeguarding trees from concretization, but how will this work be executed is a million-dollar question?
It is easier said than done as most avenue trees in Bengaluru are literally hanging on to their dear lives in the city roads, footpaths, and pavements. Trees are completely slathered in concrete, construction and tar materials for hundreds of square kilometers in Bengaluru.
On May 22, state forest, ecology and environment minister Eshwar Khandre issued orders to protect trees from being concretized up to their trunks in the state.
In a letter addressed to the Additional Chief Secretary (forests), the Minister stressed that local bodies need to take immediate action for clearance of concrete around the tree trunks but neither specified a time frame nor allocated funds for such a massive exercise across the state.
APPEAL FOR DE-CONCRETIZATION
The above photo shows how much space this tree has on KH Road just opposite the Lalbagh Botanical gardens.
Earlier, appealing to the forest minister, Vijay Nishant, Project Vruksha Foundation had requested statewide implementation of tree de-concretization and strict action against violators as thousands of trees were suffering from laying of concrete around the root zone of the trees which violated the NGT order. Calling for monitoring and accountability, he said “Strict penalties should be enforced against individuals, contractors, engineers or agencies who execute this work.”
On April 23, 2013 and December, 2023, the NGT had issued orders that said, “Concrete surrounding the trees within one metre of the trees should be removed forthwith and all the trees to be looked after well and due precaution to be taken in future so that no concrete or construction or repairing work is done at least within one metre radius of the trunk of trees.”
NGT PENALTY RS 10,000/TREE FOR NON-COMPLIANCE IN DELHI
Apart from this, NGT has issued orders on the removal of concrete around trees in Delhi, with fines of Rs 10,000 per tree for non-compliance. So, now a penalty of Rs 10,000 is being imposed on people or agencies responsible for tree concretization in Delhi.
Many trees in the cities of Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mysuru, and Mangaluru have concrete till the base of the tree trunk affecting the survival of the tree.
In fact, when many roads in Bengaluru underwent white topping and laying of tiles on pavements, trees not only lost their breathing spaces but the much-needed soil support around them.
LOSS OF TREE COVER
Further, Bengaluru has already lost much of its precious tree cover due to metro rail construction, development of linear structures, rampant urbanization, diversion of forest lands, conversion of lake and tank lands to commercial and residential properties.
Unfortunately, destruction of roundabouts and widening of existing major roads like Hebbal road, Bellary Road, Jayamahal road, Palace Road, Whitefield Road, Vidhana Soudha Road, Kempegowda Road, Miller Road, Race Course Road, R V Road and so many other roads have resulted in the total decimation of tree cover in the last three decades.
With rains hammering the city, many trees have crashed in different parts of the city due to absence of any soil support and lack of water percolation, breathing space for the root system to hold it firmly to the ground. Even a small gush of wind topples these trees who have lost their soil cover.
In the last 20 days of rains and strong wind, nearly 100 trees crashed to the ground which included the fall of a massive tree in Lalbagh Botanical Garden, West Gate. This is just the beginning of monsoon and one can imagine the plight of trees on main junction roads, residential colonies and connecting highways when monsoons come in full force.
BBMP TREE CENSUS DATA
The above picture shows the rich density of trees in HMT estate in north Bengaluru and even now many areas of the city are home to a verdant tree cover in the outer areas that needs to be protected.
As per the latest tree census data from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) on April 24, 2025, only 5.92 lakh trees have been enumerated that is spread over seven zones. These include tree species like rain tree, mahogany, mango, tamarind, tabebuia, spethodia, and many other species.
A Christmas tree in Poorna Prajna Nagar, Uttarahalli Ward after census given the tag number of 5753. This number will reveal the number of trees in that area, health, geo-referenced location, species, and size of the tree.
The BBMP tree census is still on and it is expected to be completed by December 2025 as the tender process was canceled in three zones of Mahadevpura, Dasarahalli and Yelahanka and later processed. Also, the technical glitches have hit the tree census exercise.
Earlier in 2014, the total number of trees in Bengaluru city was about 14,78,412 trees with 0.166 tree/person as per studies conducted by Centre for Ecological Science, IISc, Bengaluru.
Only after the tree census is completed by BBMP, one can know the number of trees lost in the last decade. With rampant construction of apartments and commercial complexes in residential areas, it remains to be seen, how much tree cover does Bengaluru have?