Bengaluru International Airport and Bengaluru City railway station go green

While the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) announced that a “calming and immersive garden experience” awaits commuters in months to come, the South Western Railway (SWR)’s Bangalore Division commissioned a new vertical garden at Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Bengaluru railway station on Wednesday. SWR is also now harnessing on using solar energy, with 805 kWp solar panels installed in stations across the Division which generate about 12,07,500 units of electricity annually.

More than 7,000 trees to be relocated at Bangalore airport

As many as 7,095 trees and shrubs in the path of the expansion for the construction of Terminal 2 at KIA, will be safely translocated to other locations within the Airport premises in a phased manner, according to BIAL. This is done as part of “further enhancing the landscape all the way from the Trumpet to the Terminal,” a BIAL statement reads.

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According to a BIAL spokesperson, “A total of 1,285 trees and plants will be translocated in the first phase, while the rest will be carried out over the next two years. The task of translocating trees makes them fragile and requires long-term nurturing to survive the shock of translocation. To ensure high survival rates, BIAL has engaged the Institute of Wood Science & Technology and Volvo to provide scientific solutions.”

Elaborating on the same, Tom Shimmin, Chief Projects Officer, BIAL tells Indianexpress.com that the objective of the move is to avoid felling of trees and, instead, relocate them to a place where they can further improve aesthetics of the Airport. “Some of the existing trees are unique species and not available in India. Our aim is to ensure that we don’t lose out on the existing ones. In keeping with Bengaluru’s image as the Garden City of India, BIAL has tried to reflect this image at the Airport by creating world-class landscapes,” he says.

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KIA’s Terminal 2 is expected to be a first-of-its-kind ‘Terminal as a Garden’ which is designed to become a natural extension of Bengaluru’s much-heralded green aesthetics. Trees, small gardens, and ponds featuring local and exotic species of plants will line the interior, airport officials add.

Over 38,000 trees planted across Bangalore Division in 2018-19: SWR

Explaining various eco-friendly initiatives taken by the Bangalore Division, SWR officials claim more than 38,000 trees have been planted across the Division in 2018-19. “7330 trees have been planted in 5.1 route kilometres. Besides, 38,072 trees have been planted across other railway lands of the Division. More than 50 gardens are developed during the year 2018 -19 which covered an area of 27,241 square metres,” says Ashok Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Division.

Ashok Kumar Verma, Bangalore Divisional Railway Manager, SWR, inaugurates pet bottle crushing machine at KSR Bengaluru Railway Station. Photo/SWR

He adds that door-to-door collection of segregated garbage in railway colonies, and segregation of dry waste into degradable and non-biodegradable ones are being done part of their efforts taken towards effective solid waste management. “Generating manure by processing wet waste and bio-degradable waste through vermin-composting are also being done,” he says.

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Two water recycling plants have also been set up at KSR Bengaluru and Yesvantpur railway stations recently.