Bengaluru: At the first-ever public consultation meeting for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) here on Friday, participants expressed concern over loss of green cover, saying Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-Ride), the project implementing agency , should have its own internal team for the implementation and monitoring of compensatory afforestation works. The citizens said that K-RIDE’s complete dependence on BBMP for compensatory afforestation is not a good idea. To implement the project over a length of 148 kilometers on four corridors, K-Ride has identified 32,572 trees that need to be felled. The citizens also emphasized that introducing compensatory afforestation on the outskirts of the city or adjoining districts will not help the city. Another demand was to involve citizen groups in afforestation and disseminate information on the number of saplings planted. Other suggestions from them include expediting the long-pending project, prioritizing the implementation of the KSR Bengaluru – Devanahalli line, connecting the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) and expanding the network to suburban areas . Dattatreya Devare of Bangalore Environment Trust said, “The BBMP forest cell has had half its sanctioned staff for years. Without the necessary staff, how will they manage the compensatory afforestation works? I request K-Ride to form its own team to oversee the compensation.” Vijay Nishanth, a green activist, said, “K-Ride should set an example by taking ownership. There should be proper dissemination of information regarding the area identified for planting saplings, the number of trees and timely updates on the survival of saplings in the public domain.” Sreenivas Rao, a resident of Thanisandra, said, “Instead of looking for land space for afforestation at remote places, the district-level agencies should look for vacant land spaces. Every neighborhood should have biodiversity hotspots. What is the point of cutting down trees in urban areas and planting them elsewhere.” K-Ride MD, N Manjula, told the gathering that they have paid money to BBMP and forest department for carrying out compensatory afforestation work. After discussing the matter with higher-ups, K-Ride will explore the feasibility of involving itself in afforestation work, she said. Manjula said the actual number of trees cut would drop. She explained that all the trees identified for felling in the environmental impact study would not make way for the project. Before the construction of Corridor 2, from Benniganahalli to Chikkabanavara, K-Ride had identified 3,469 trees. However, following the tree committee’s inventory of trees following an on-site inspection, 2,797 trees were allowed to be removed, while the rest of the trees were retained. “Even in the remaining corridors, there are opportunities to retain 15 to 20 percent of the trees,” she said. On the delay in starting the KSR Bengaluru – Devanahalli project connecting Kempegowda International Airport, the MD said the tender documents are ready for the 46 km line and with the approval of the financing agency, the tender will be floated soon launched.