If the government goes ahead with a plan to buy some hydraulically-operated tree spades, trees in the state will be transplanted instead of felled every time one comes in the way of some construction. 

A meeting was held at the Glass House in Eco Tourism Park on February 26 to discuss the proposition and in attendance were officials from the urban development department, wasteland development department and forest department.  

“Development is the need of the day but we do not want to kill trees in order to develop an area. In New Town, too, we have seen that trees pose an obstruction for many projects,” said principal secretary of urban development Debashis Sen. “But if the other departments co-operate with us, we can transplant trees to new addresses instead of hacking them.” 

The conventional technique of tree transplantation relies on trained labourers digging out the root system. By making a trench of around one metre at its base, they pull out the tree with a crane, covering the root ball with a wet husk or resin cloth and transport it to its new home on a flatbed trailer. 

The machine, which the authorities are contemplating to buy, uses hydraulically-operated tree spades that perform the above-mentioned steps much faster. A tree spade can transplant around six trees a day. 

But several factors have to be kept in mind while moving such trees. The new location and the nature of soil have to match the previous address and the length of the root system has to be studied. There cannot be any lawns near the new area and the front of the tree must face the same direction as it did at its original place.

The cost of transplanting a tree is around Rs 40,000 but the cost per unit reduces as the number of trees transplanted increases. The cost of a single mechanical spade is Rs 1 crore. The urban development department and the wasteland development department are considering splitting costs and procuring some spades. If adopted, this technology will be the first of its kind in Bengal. It is already in use in Gujarat.

“Although the technology is expensive, I am sure we can find a way to procure the machinery. We are ready to allot space for a tree bank in New Town where transplanted trees can be kept. We shall also keep endangered species of trees from elsewhere. A spot in Action Area 1 and an area inside Eco Tourism Park have been earmarked for this purpose,” Sen said.

“Urban development in metropolitan cities is rapid and often at the cost of trees. If we can adapt this technology, we will be able to live in greenery,” said forester Tripti Shah.

During the construction of the East West Metro through Salt Lake, 700 trees had to be felled in 2009-2010 by conservative estimates. Although work on FE Block’s Rabindra Bhavan is stalled at present, the construction will need seven to eight trees to be felled.