After Several Roadblocks, BBMP To Finally Conduct Tree Census In Bengaluru

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has finally made up its mind to have a tree census in Bengaluru. The demand has been put on hold for a long time. Several citizen groups and environmentalists have asked the corporation to hold a census to get the figures on the number of trees that have been felled as a result of various developmental works across the city.

The Hindu quoted M K Cholarajappa, Deputy Conservator of Forests as saying, “The discussions with Project Vruksha are still in the initial stages and modalities are yet to be worked out. The thinking now is to enlist the help of members of Ward Committees and interested non-governmental organisations and residents' welfare associations for the pilot. Before the pilot, workshops will be conducted to orient those participating in the census on what needs to be done.”

Different species of trees can be identified with the census and the public can access the data on the website. After developing an app that can map the trees across every ward of the city, Project Vruksha has set the ball rolling for the BBMP to follow this up on a bigger scale across the city. The app features species, girth, height, age etc of the recorded trees.

After hearing a PIL and under pressure from the public, the government finally constituted the Tree Authority, under the provisions of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.