Bangalore: Emotions are running so high over the felling of trees in the historical Lalbagh Garden that police protection was considered necessary for the work to go ahead. The protestors in Bangalore feel betrayed. They think they have the law on their side.
Says Sunil Dutt Yadav, lawyer for Hasiru Usiru: "With respect to the legalities of the issue of having a Metro station in Lalbagh, there is a big question mark. The Metro station was not shown in the original plan. Whether it has been amended we don't know."
Shilpa, a local resident says: "We really want to save Lalbagh. If Metro can go underground near Vidhana Soudha and Majestic where no trees are being felled, why can't it go underground in front of Lalbagh where more trees have been cut."
But Metro authorities say they are violating no laws and that going underground is at least twice as expensive and will save no trees at all.
S Sivasailam, MD of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, explains: "There is generally a wrong perception that going underground will actually lead to cutting of less trees. Our experience says that it is not so. In fact in the underground alignment of 9 kilometres there are almost 1,100 trees which are to be felled. You require areas for ventilation, air conditioning plants, chiller plants and things like that. Whereas in the whole of the elevated section of 32 kilometres we are felling only about 2000 trees."
The protesting tree lovers say that the trees should be saved at any cost, even if it means taking the Metro underground. But Metro authorities say that an underground Metro actually results in the loss of more trees. It looks as if nothing can derail this Metro project. It is the trees that will have to get out of the way.