Every Hyderabadi remembers the gale and thunderstorm that took place on last Friday. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Commission report says that there are about 1,355 trees uprooted for that strong gale on Friday. Additional Commissioner of GHMC, Surendra Mohan who is taking action regarding the complaint related to emergency services says that about 1000 trees were cleared from the roads.

He also says that the most affected areas were Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Masab Tank and other places from south zone. This gale that took place for few minutes raised many questions in the people living in Hyderabad.

“We need to know why trees fell in Jubilee Hills and Banjara hills whereas no such damage was seen at Ramachandrapuram or other areas. Across the urban areas, the nature of gale has been changing and is more localised. The high-rise buildings might be changing the direction of the wind flow too. What has happened is odd and needs to be explained, but the problem is we have failed in documenting or maintaining records of floods, storms or other natural events,” said Anant Maringanti, Director, Hyderabad Urban Labs.

The biodiversity experts say that the selection of trees and plants by the administration was another major factor which led to considerable loss of green cover.

“The GHMC and the Forest Department have been planting fast-growing trees that do not have deep root. There is no use of these ornamental trees which will easily get uprooted during storms. The focus should be on planting varieties like neem and tamarind that are even useful for birds and are self-propagating. The laying of concrete roads around the trees without even leaving space for watering is another reason why the trees are becoming weak,” said R. Hampaiah, former Chairman, A.P. Biodiversity Board.