How to save a tree… The case of the Chevella Banyans

How often have you seen familiar trees disappearing around your city to make way for ‘development’? The Chevella Banyans campaign launched by city dwellers in Hyderabad offers some insights on how to fight for your trees

A 46.6-kilometre stretch on the national highway, NH-163, about 30 kilometres outside Hyderabad on the Hyderabad-Bijapur Road, in Telangana, has shot into the limelight all thanks to 914 trees called the Chevella Banyans.

Yesterday, on November 6, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) passed a landmark judgement, directing the National Highways Authority (NHAI) to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to minimise loss of these trees.

This is possibly the first time that the green tribunal, a statutory body that deals with cases of environment protection, has asked for such an exercise to be conducted for trees along a road-widening project.

As part of its highways expansion project NHAI had proposed to fell the trees along the route and these included 914 old banyan trees referred to as the Chevella Banyans, some of which are hundred years old or more. There are about 15,000 trees in all on that stretch.

The big old banyans have got a reprieve thanks to a group of nature lovers from Hyderabad who had petitioned the NGT to save these old trees that were planted by the Nizam’s government.

Nature Lovers of Hyderabad, a group of over 315 volunteers, not only geotagged these trees but ran a sustained campaign to save the banyans, an ecosystem in themselves.

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“In 2017, some of us formed a WhatsApp group to discuss anything to do with nature with about 240 members. Gradually the members began to organise tree walks and excursions within Hyderabad to introduce urban dwellers to the natural joys that existed all around them and encourage them to identify, admire and learn about trees in their neighbourhood,” Natasha Ramarathnam, one of the earliest campaigners, told Gaon Connection.

Two years later, in 2019, the news of the proposed felling of the Banyans on Chevella Road was shared on the WhatsApp group, and they decided to act.

“Someone posted on the group about the road widening by NHAI and the cutting of the trees and the conversations turned from ‘someone should do something about this’ to ‘we should do something about this’,” Ramarathnam recalled. “We were foolish enough to take on the fight and believed we could do it,” she laughed.

But the group of nature lovers has managed to save the Chevella Banyans, so far, and is ready for a long drawn legal battle.

Nature Lovers of Hyderabad have proved that the ordinary citizen can make a difference.

“Our group is made up of people between 42 to 62 years and a few younger ones. There are teachers, doctors, lecturers, people in advertising, museum curators… all tied together in their love of trees and nature,”Ramarathnam said.

When common citizens come together

“We are a mixed bag in our group with none of us really with any experience on running campaigns, being activists or taking on authorities. So, for starters we started an online petition called Save the Banyans of Chevella on change.org under the name ‘Nature Lovers of Hyderabad’,” Ramarathnam said. That campaign now has over 40,000 signatories and is growing.

There was jubilation in the group when a few months down the line NHAI shelved the project citing shortage of funds.

But the jubilation was short lived as in 2021, the highways authority revived its plans to widen NH-163.

Nature Lovers of Hyderabad also revived its campaign. It filed an appeal with the NGT, made representations to the NHAI, Forest Department, members of the Tree Protection Committee and other politicians. The group then reached out to the people through awareness drives, nature walks and so on, said Ramarathnam.

It is in response to their petition that the NGT has asked for an EIA. A copy of the order is with Gaon Connection.

“We have set a precedent and proved how even as people with no agenda, but with a single focus we can come together and contribute in so many ways to make something a success,” Kobita Dass Kolli, one of the founders of the group, told Gaon Connection. She said what had begun as a group for nature lovers had become a movement.

“We were about 15 members when we began the Nature Lovers of Hyderabad. We are now 315 members,” said Kolli.

Geo-tagging a keystone species

And, it was imperative that the Chevella Banyans be saved. “The banyans wear the ‘Keystone species’ crown.” A keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether.

What followed was a systematic collection and documentation of data about the banyan trees.

On June 7, 15, 19 and 29 this year, four members of the group set out to geo tag the 914 banyan trees with their phones and a GPS locator app. By the end of day one, there were 120 Chevella Banyans that had their geotag identity and address.

Photographs and location coordinates were uploaded and by the end of the fourth day all the 914 banyan trees were documented.

All this came in handy when the petitions were sent out and queries from the NHAI or the Forest Department had to be responded to.

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“Our responses were always backed with data that we had painstakingly put together. We knew about each tree, how tall it was, what its girth was, what markings there were on it and its general condition,” Ramarathnam said.

“NHAI began to take us seriously because of this. They knew we were watching and that we had solid information to back our demand,” she said.

“We did a lot of homework in the last few years, and learnt a lot on the way,” B Tejah, one of the petitioners and member of the group, told Gaon Connection. The volunteers gathered data, were relentless in studying material they had access to, and demanded clarification on ‘vague’ and ‘unspecified’ assurances made by NHAI and the forest department.

An ecological corridor

Tejah alleged that the NHAI has not conducted an enumeration of the trees affected, despite awarding contracts for developing the road. The old road, with thousands of trees including the banyans planted by the Nizam’s government, has heritage value, he said.

“The banyans form an ecological corridor connecting different parts of Telangana state for many birds and other species. Neither the unique features of this corridor nor its historic value are addressed at all by NHAI’s pre-feasibility report,” he pointed out.

What makes the present victory sweeter is that it is hard won. “We did not have a legal precedent so to speak. There are rules and regulations, policies and laws that protect trees in reserved land, national parks, in forests, sacred groves, and so on. But trees lining the road have no legal protection. They do not fall into any of the above categories and are pretty much expendable,” he said.

In such cases when there are plans of road expansion, anything that comes in its way is considered an obstacle, Tejah added.

“So having this judgement is a big deal as no matter what the ultimate consequence will be, this can be a very important precedent for future cases,” he said.

It is not just about the trees

Kolli calls the Chevella Banyans ‘Trees of Life’. “The impact of 914 practically contiguous, large old banyans in maintaining biodiversity and providing ecosystem services is immense. These factors demonstrate the incalculable merit in conserving them in situ – in place, unharmed and untouched,” she said.

The banyans have myriad ecological functions. The abundant fruiting of large banyans attracts several species of birds, mammals, dragonflies, spiders, lizards and bats.

Kolli described how the Chevella Banyans therefore interact with a wide variety of other species, enabling their survival, maintaining diversity, and indirectly affecting the ecosystem they are a part of.

In arid and sparse landscapes, the banyan tree sustains numerous species with food and shelter, which in turn benefit the ecosystem. Local biodiversity gets a powerful boost if the tree is present, and the moisture content in the soil is retained, and so much carbon dioxide is sequestered, she explained.

“If we lose the Banyans of Chevella, a treasure of local flora and fauna will lose their habitat; invasive species will take over and that will mean a death knell to our biodiversity,” Kolli warned.