People protesting at KBR Park
Hyderabad: The dichotomy between the older and younger generations with respect to environmental protection was exposed during a silent and peaceful protest led by the Gen Z, who made an attempt to caution society that felling thousands of trees around the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) Park in Banjara Hills would lead to the destruction of the environment and, as a consequence, deterioration of human health.
The demonstrators, mostly under the age of 25, were up against the felling of over 1,500 trees around the KBR Park for the upcoming H-CITI project, which proposes six multi-level flyovers and underpasses along the park’s 5-km perimeter, requiring 60,000 metric tonnes of cement and 5,000 metric tonnes of steel.
With over 1,500 brought to the ground, 1,800 more trees were marked for falling.
Holding placards, the young peaceful protestors sat in front of the main gate, only to be confronted by some senior citizens who insulted and intimidated them.
Ironically, they are the park’s regular walkers.
“The flyovers being built on the roads will actually land on the divider. If this project is not taken up, 10 years from now, not even a single vehicle can get on the road,” said an elderly walker.
Environmental and social activist Dr Lubna Sarwath intervened and humbly asked the gentleman if he was aware of any document related to the design of the project placed in the public domain, so that people could understand its impact.
Furious, he snapped back, “If you people did this in some other country, they would have kicked you in your butt and driven you away.”
At that point, some other walkers in their 50s, 60s and even 70s came to his support and started making outlandish statements with an intent to divert the argument.
“Why do they have to build the flyovers and underpasses in the first place? It is because of the population explosion. You guys should first speak about the population explosion instead,” the man said, looking at the Burkha-clad young girls among the protesters.
As the protesters chanted “shame shame,” the gentlemen left the scene.
Dr Lubna corrected the youngsters, telling them that the Gandhian way was the only way to deal with such people. She emphasised the need to engage in a debate, while being silent when the others resorted to such abusive tactics to derail the debate.
“They are our seniors. They are our citizens. We need them. We need to educate them,” she said.
Before the clash between the old and young took place, the protesters, who were well aware of the intent of the state government behind constructing the flyovers and underpasses, had more solutions to address the ‘traffic problem,’ which the government has been claiming to be the main reason for the infrastructure creation around the KBR Park.
Firstly, the youngsters sought to know whether there were any examples from the past several years when constructing flyovers had eased the traffic problem.
“For several years, I have travelled from LB Nagar to Alwal by changing three buses. Several flyovers have been constructed on that route over the past 5 years. Has the traffic problem been solved?” she sought to know.
The youngsters blamed cars being driven by single driver/passenger in that zone as being responsible for the traffic problem there, as the cars cover most of the roads.
The youngsters, who were well aware of the felling of trees in Kancha Gachibowli and other areas over the past couple of years, observed that a similar situation would arise if the trees at KBR Park were cleared, forcing peacocks to fly out of the park and leaving them vulnerable to attacks by stray dogs.
“Why would they fell trees in the middle of the night, that too on Saturdays and Sundays when courts do not function? They know very well that the courts are on vacation until June 5. They are very intelligent,” another protester observed.
The protesters also drew attention to the KBR Park buffer zone, where construction is reportedly prohibited within 100 metres of the park. However, in some places around the park, the walking zone is as narrow as three feet, while in others it extends to 20 feet.
“We came from 25 km away to protest the felling of the trees. We come to KBR Park maybe once a year. But it is surprising to see that people who come here daily are so chill about it. They are looking at us like we are some weird creatures. What is this weird bystander mentality?” Vaishnavi wondered.
Very few people tried to interact with the protesters. One of them was a woman who is a resident of Road No 12 of Banjara Hills. “When you pass from this road, you get a beautiful feeling like you’re in America or Europe. The trees, the greenery, it is so beautiful. It shouldn’t be disturbed,” the woman opined, also informing Siasat.com that she would prefer traffic jams over felling trees at KBR Park.
Most of the protesters came there voluntarily, and were not necessarily part of any one organisation. One of such participants was Dr Lubna Sarwath.
She told Siasat.com that though the authorities were alleging they had permission under the Water Land and Trees Act (WALTA) to cut down the trees, it is a false claim.
“There is no Tree Protection Committee in WALTA. On the other hand, there is the Hyderabad District WALTA Authority and State WALTA Authority. There is a designated officer in the Hyderabad District WALTA Authority who is the sole authority to give permission for such felling of trees. So, they have no permissions,” Lubna informed.
“Scientists have been saying that if green cover is reduced and water spaces are shrunk, temperatures will spike. The pollution is due to transport and construction. They are doing exactly the opposite of what is needed to do to improve the health index. They are doing it by cutting down trees. What HYDRAA is doing is shrinking the water spaces by dumping and constructing inside the FTL of lakes,” she said.
“Development and growth are both questionable terms. When you talk about development, is there not supposed to be a welfare part to it? If there is welfare, then how has the Supreme Court stated that where there is no environment, there is no development? How can you frame it as an environment versus development when it should actually be environment and development? Whatever development is possible while keeping the environment intact can be carried out,” she said.
“There is also a law which states that when a tree is uprooted, a five-year plantation plan should already be in place within the vicinity so that the ecology of that particular area is not disturbed,” she added.
She demanded a detailed project report, any alternatives examined, a cost-benefit analysis report, environment and social impact assessment, and other reports prepared while building any flyover.
Also noting that while a public transport vehicle like a bus carries 30-40 passengers on the road, Lubna said that private vehicles like cars are driven by a single person around the KBR Park.
“Imagine the road space being occupied by a single private vehicle causing all that pollution being driven by fuel, and the public transport carrying more people in a lesser in the time of multiples of that car’s space. So who are we serving by spending public money on the flyovers? It is not the public or the public transport,” she asked.
Observing that Hyderabad Metro extended till Jubilee Hills, Punjagutta and all the way till Ameerpet, she wondered whether the H-CITY project was only being done to add commercial value to the area.
A delegation led by Dr Lubna Sarwath, with Dr Narayana Rao, ex-member of AP Pollution Control Board, and, Er Vijay, Environmental Activist, met Hyderabad District Collector Priyanka Ala at her office later during the day, and submitted representations along with the copies of the ‘Approvals of Tree Protection Committee’ for felling trees at KBR Park.
The Collector was informed that the ‘Tree Protection Committee’ was a “ghost committee” and that they were continuously invoking the WALTA Act , whereas, WALTA Act has no such provision of giving such a committee the authority to cut down trees.
The Collector was also informed that only the WALTA Authority had the power to give any tree felling permissions, while there was no WALTA authority meeting held since 2014.
The Collector was advised that being the Chairperson of the Hyderabad District WALTA Authority, she must address this issue of fake permissions for felling trees, that has become the basis for the construction of flyovers around KBR National Park.
“The authorities are citing a GO 539 dated December 11, 2008 and have been using the names of Veda Kumar (Forum for Better Hyderabad), Chelikani (UFERWAS) and World Wide Fund since 18 years. It is totally ultra vires, and literally hoodwinking the people, courts and the co-authorities too. Whether the above 3 civil society members have signed on the tree felling permission letters is unknown because the permission letters have been kept in the dark, not available neither on RTI requests, nor placed in the public domain,” she informed the Collector.
This post was last modified on May 7, 2026 11:03 pm