Thousands of trees may be axed for skyway

Secunderabad: Thousands of trees are set to be axed for the proposed elevated skyway between Gymkhana ground and Hakimpet Air Force Station as demarcation of the trees on the 11-km long stretch is under way.
The Defence Estates Office, Secunderabad Cantonment Board and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority are jointly doing the demarcation. “The exact number of trees to be axed will be known after the completion of demarcation.Most of the trees are more than 60 years old and a few trees are aged below 30 and 20 years,” defence sources told TOI.

The trees include neem, peepal, gulmohar, tamarind, Indian beech and others. The ministry of defence, in its working permission orders issued to the state government in March, said the existing trees will be chopped by the Defence Estates Office and the cost of the same will be deposited by HMDA.
TOI toured from Gymkhana ground to Hakimpet and noticed that trees on both sides of the state highway face the axe. For instance, Gymkhana and Bison Polo grounds are covered with hundreds of trees and as per demarcation, over 60% of the trees will be chopped as part of widening the stretch for the skyway.
Since 1964, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan (KVS), Picket, will also lose green cover. Brig Syed, chairman of the vidyalaya, had gifted seven acres of land to KV Picket. On the sprawling seven-acre land, demarcation on the compound wall (opposite Secunderabad Club) towards Karkhana clearly states that chopping of trees is inevitable for widening the road from the existing 30 ft to 100 ft.
In the office of the controller of defence accounts, working under the MoD, several trees will have to make way for the road-widening. Apart from private properties, key defence establishments are also set to lose thousands of trees.