Following protests, Bengaluru's civic body said the permission to fell trees will be reviewed.
People in Central Bengaluru are campaigning to save trees marked to be felled for a new road project. Bearing messages of 'saving me is saving you', people on Friday hugged the trees to keep authorities away from uprooting them.
The state government's project TenderSURE aims to have levelled and wide footpaths with underground ducts for utility services. But activists argue government's claim of it being a pedestrian friendly initiative.
One of the campaigners, Vinay K Sreenivasa of NGO Hasiru Usiru told NDTV, "This project, which was promoted as pedestrian friendly project, seeks to remove the most pedestrian friendly object on the road - trees."
Activists say that despite a pending appeal in court, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike was hurrying the auction of trees, alleging pressure from timber mafia.
'An appeal was filed with the Mayor and Comissioner of BBMP, against the permissions granted to fell trees on Nrupathunga Road and Jayanagar. Despite of it, the BBMP forest department has gone ahead and auctioned the trees, even before an appeal is heard by the Tree Authority. Thus the auction and any possible felling will be illegal', said Vinay Sreenivasa.
Many have also questioning the expenditure and lack of public consultation in implementing the project.
Kshitij Urs of Forum for Urban Governance and Commons said there was an attempt to willfully ignore democratic institutions while implementing the project. "This is what happens when an elite few are allowed to bypass democratic processes and implement their ideas rooted in vested interests. The project has to be immediately stopped and a cost effective and eco-centric planning of roads and footpaths has to be initiated all across the city', he said.
Strong opposition now has the BBMP in damage control. The civic body's Assistant Conservator of Forest, Ranganathswamy told NDTV that the decision to fell trees will be reviewed.
"We will review the permission for felling and only trees that are old and at the risk of getting uprooted will be axed', Mr Ranganathswamy said.
According to a recent study by Indian Institute of Science, the garden city of Bengaluru over the past 15 years has seen its vegetation decrease from 45% to 8.4%. According to environmentalists, a city should have 7-8 trees for every one resident. In Bengaluru's case, it's the opposite.