Saw the extent of damage done due to an old peepul tree uprooting in one corner of Bangalore on Saturday afternoon and was instantly reminded of a scary scenario. Experts have time and again warned that the trees in Bangalore are not healthy. And you know what? If this city is known as ‘Garden City’ because of its number of trees, then you must also be aware that their very existence (in an unhealthy form) is also a real big threat to life and property in Bangalore.
Haven’t we seen that happen?
Thank God, it’s not raining nowadays; but when that happens – and in its full glory – we see branches falling apart from their trees, if not the trees themselves falling on the heads of passers-by.
It’s not funny lest you are visualising a Laurel & Hardy kind of a scene. L&H normally shows survivors out of even the worst case; like a tonne weight of a pillar falling on a guy’s head and all we do is laugh at its absurdity because the next thing you see is the guy standing up groggily and walking away to be poked into the eye by either Laurel or Hardy.
What happened on Saturday afternoon was ghastly, not funny. A painter on his way riding a bike was conked out by the falling peepul tree and he was out like a light even before he knew what hit him. That’s what I say is not funny. Because the next time it could be you or me in that hapless painter’s place.
Life in Bangalore is, as it is, very dangerous. As if we need something from above us to kill us because something around us is not. What a checkmate!
So what do we do? Cut the trees which are unhealthy and risk the “green activists” to take to the streets. Every time BBMP screams “Cut”, the activists go “Action!” like as if a film is being shot. And what we do get is nothing short of a comic film, anyway!
These tree activists remind me of relatives of patients who die in hospitals, and all these relatives do is scream “negligence” and the whole world goes against the doctors.
It’s not different with the trees in Bangalore, too. Experts at Institute of Wood Science and Technology, do know that there are several trees in Bangalore which are standing and are unhealthy, and which need to be cut. But if the BBMP tree engineers pay heed to their advice, you will see jack-saws coming out. A little later you will see the tree activists.
Oh boy, this cat-and-mouse game! But who suffers in the end?
Its' like being caught between a rock and a hard place!
ReplyDeleteReading your article took me back three decades when a promising young engineer from Bangalore, a mutual friend of ours, died tragically when a tree came crashing down on him as he was returning home in an auto, from the international airport.
In Secunderabad too, we are facing the same problem . In Sainikpuri and Marredpally, the urban planners in their infinite wisdom planted fast growing trees. Come one rain or a windy day, the roads become a death trap. The branches of the trees break off like matchsticks, dragging down electrical poles andwires with them. Three years back, on a hot May evening, there was a strong breeze that pulled down 11 electrical poles in the vicinity of our home, resulting in a power outage for 3 days!!
On the other hand, the same neighbourhood starts sabre-rattling when the municipality personnel come by to prune the branches that overhang electrical cables and wires. Their objection is to the "thoughtless" cutting down of the trees.
Like you rightly mentioned......Who suffers in the end?
BTW...... loved your title too :)
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