Banyan trees on Hyderabad-Chevella stretch. | Photo credit: NAGARA GOPAL
Save Banyans of Chevella, a campaign by environmentalists and nature lovers from the city, scored a rare victory against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) when the latter agreed to rearrange the National Highway-163 widening plan to accommodate 765 banyan trees on the verges.
The National Green Tribunal, where the road widening project had stalled for years, gave the road its approval with the conditions.
In a compromise on their part, proponents representing the campaign agreed to relocate 150 trees to the edges of the widened road. Of the 150 trees, about 130 are now left, which will be relocated as per the agreement.
The NGT order, which was uploaded in the public domain on Wednesday, included suggestions by the petitioners who sought to preserve all trees except banyan trees, which were cut in the earlier plan but now do not stand in the way of the expansion. The original proposal envisaged felling of more than 900 banyan trees and 10,000 other trees, they said in an independent report submitted to the court, apart from a joint report with the NHAI. The Tree Preservation Committee of the Telangana Forest Department has identified 415 such trees that can be saved such as tamarind and rain trees, a statement by the petitioners said.
Further, their suggestion that the monitoring committee to oversee the project should include at least two citizens was accepted by the NGT, which issued directions to the NHAI to include at least two local citizens interested in tree conservation.
A media statement by Save Banyans of Chevella said that the key decision taken by NHAI is to change the translocation model. Instead of moving the trees to Mudimyal as planned earlier, they will now be moved just a few meters away.
Nature lovers of Hyderabad, who are petitioners in the campaign, have also compiled a list of local native trees that NHAI has agreed to include in the plantation and a compensatory afforestation model for the project, the statement said, thanking Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy and Parigi MLA T. Ram Mohan Reddy for their efforts to bring the project to completion.
Published – 13 Nov 2025 20:41 IST
