What does trees have to do with a city ?

Over the last few weeks, denizens of the twin cities have been crying hoarse over the chopping down of a venerable banyan tree located close the proposed American consulate coming up in the heart of the city. By the time everyone woke up over half a dozen trees, some of them over 50 years old, simply disappeared.

With it came the hue and cry from city based NGOs which accused the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) of being blind to the disappearing green cover in the twin cities. If the proximate visibility of the consulate gave the trees some saving media coverage, other trees in various parts of Hyderabad and Secunderabad were being axed in the name of road widening. The Forest department worked overtime with extra-ordinary zeal unseen in government departments, to chop off of a whole load of trees abutting the road that runs along to the new airport. The reason – road widening !

When I was a child, the tree lined avenues of Osmania University was an elixir. From my home close to the Jamai Osmania University Railway station, it was a hop, skip and jump to reach the other side of the concrete jungle, into the sylvan surroundings of the OU campus. There was a nip in the air, and one could feel a lot fresher just taking a walk. But over the years, that green cover has lost its sheen as the campus began to build concrete monstrosities all around.

A couple of decades later, I returned to Hyderabad from Bangalore only to find that the city was in a mess. People were building as if there was no tomorrow. Bagh Lingamplly, where I used to climb the huge tamarind trees, was no more a bagh. Instead, an ugly looking housing complex had come up. Marredpally with its quaint old bungalows had given way to sky high apartments, and sure enough there were no trace of the trees, under which many a romance had flowered.

I decided to move into the Secunderabad cantonment at Trimulgherry and later I settled in an apartment at Alwal. Me and my better half decided that we would have our home close to a spot of green. Luckily, we found that tree-lined avenue at Alwal and that was it. It took just an hour to make a decision of a life time and I handed out the cheque to the builder. Over the years, I have noticed that the temperature in this part of the city is a couple of notches less even during the summer. Maybe it has to do with the army cantonment on one side along with the location of the Indian Presidential abode, Rashtrapathi Nilayam which is a huge oasis of green. Is there a message in this ? Surely.

It’s high time, we the citizens of the twin cities take up the move to protect trees, by ensuring the illogical trimming done by the electricity distribution companies, and the mindless road widening is stopped forthwith. Or else we will have to put up a huge tree as a historical display at the Salar Jung Museum, so that the coming generations can know what a tree looked like. Which option do you prefer?