Hyderabad: Videos of activists hugging trees near Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park to stop them from being cut down surfaced widely on social media on Sunday, as protests intensified over the felling of nearly 2,000 trees for flyovers and underpasses around the park.
The visuals of protesters embracing trees amid large-scale felling around KBR Park reminded of the historic Chipko Movement of the 1970s, the grassroots environmental movement in which villagers in the Himalayan region hugged trees to prevent commercial logging.
The protesters gathered amid mounting anger over the large-scale removal of trees around KBR Park for the construction of flyovers and underpasses under Hyderabad’s ongoing infrastructure expansion works.
Nearly 2000 trees felled
According to a report by Telangana Today, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials, close to 2,000 trees have been felled across key stretches surrounding KBR Park, including Jubilee Hills Check Post, Film Nagar, Mugdha Junction, and the Indo-American Cancer Hospital junction.
The report said that around 1,200 trees were cut at seven junctions — Jubilee Hills Check Post, KBR Park Entrance Junction, Jubilee Hills Road No. 45 Junction, Film Nagar Junction, Maharaja Agrasen Island Junction, Indo-American Cancer Hospital Junction, and Mugdha Traffic Junction. Another 800 trees were removed at Jubilee Hills Check Post, Mugdha Junction, and the Indo-American Cancer Hospital stretch.
The tree felling was carried out for the construction of seven flyovers and underpasses, along with road widening and median development works in the area.
Officials defend tree felling
Despite criticism from environmental groups, officials defended the exercise, saying the affected trees were relatively young.
“A senior GHMC Urban Biodiversity wing official stated that there are no trees that are more than two/three/four decades old, and all trees that are affected are 10 to 12 years old only,” according to the report.
The GHMC Urban Biodiversity wing is yet to identify locations for the translocation of around 50 trees. Sources said suitable locations are likely to be finalised before the onset of the monsoon, the report added.
Meanwhile, environmental organisations and citizen groups continued protests against the loss of green cover in one of Hyderabad’s busiest urban corridors, arguing that the city cannot afford to lose mature roadside trees amid rising temperatures and rapid urbanisation.
