*As many as 854 trees will be felled to make way for the widening of roads around Palace Grounds, especially on Jayamahal Main Road.*
Recently, the High Court of Karnataka cleared the decks for the widening of Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road, abutting the Palace Grounds. The High Court directed the state government to issue Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) to members of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family as ordered by the Supreme Court two years ago.
In order to ease traffic congestion, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) intends to widen the road to 45 metres or 150 feet from the BDA junction to Mehkri Circle and from Mehkri Circle to Cantonment railway station.
A senior BBMP engineer said there is no uniformity in road width from Mehkri Circle to Jayamahal. Given the traffic load on this stretch, it has become necessary to widen it further and maintain uniform width. "The total distance of road to be widened is 4.29 km. The width of road ranges from 30 metres to 35 metres at some places," said the engineer.
The BBMP intends to acquire six acres and 19 guntas for widening the road from BDA junction to Mehkri Circle and nine acres and 20 guntas from Mehkri Circle to Cantonment railway station.
Once the widening is taken up, the green canopy all along Jayamahal Main Road will be destroyed. Most of the trees are on the Jayamahal Main Road and were planted by the Bengaluru Urban Forestry Division decades ago. A majority of them are rain trees.
To compensate for the loss of greenery, the Forest Cell of the BBMP has decided to plant 10,000 saplings once the road widening work kickstarts.
A Forest department official said, "The state government has to decide on the TDR issue. Once the matter is resolved and work starts, we will plant trees on both sides of Jayamahal Main Road." Reported by Deccan Herald 27 minutes ago.
Recently, the High Court of Karnataka cleared the decks for the widening of Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road, abutting the Palace Grounds. The High Court directed the state government to issue Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) to members of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family as ordered by the Supreme Court two years ago.
In order to ease traffic congestion, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) intends to widen the road to 45 metres or 150 feet from the BDA junction to Mehkri Circle and from Mehkri Circle to Cantonment railway station.
A senior BBMP engineer said there is no uniformity in road width from Mehkri Circle to Jayamahal. Given the traffic load on this stretch, it has become necessary to widen it further and maintain uniform width. "The total distance of road to be widened is 4.29 km. The width of road ranges from 30 metres to 35 metres at some places," said the engineer.
The BBMP intends to acquire six acres and 19 guntas for widening the road from BDA junction to Mehkri Circle and nine acres and 20 guntas from Mehkri Circle to Cantonment railway station.
Once the widening is taken up, the green canopy all along Jayamahal Main Road will be destroyed. Most of the trees are on the Jayamahal Main Road and were planted by the Bengaluru Urban Forestry Division decades ago. A majority of them are rain trees.
To compensate for the loss of greenery, the Forest Cell of the BBMP has decided to plant 10,000 saplings once the road widening work kickstarts.
A Forest department official said, "The state government has to decide on the TDR issue. Once the matter is resolved and work starts, we will plant trees on both sides of Jayamahal Main Road." Reported by Deccan Herald 27 minutes ago.