With the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike planning to widen the Banaswadi Road and Wheeler Road, the days of many trees  in the area are numbered.

“Why are they widening this road,” asked Nitin, a marketing manager with a private firm.

He said traffic was not bad enough for complaints.

According to him, a newly-built railway over bridge has de-congested the road to a large extent and there was no need to cut more trees or widen the road to accommodate more traffic.

The Palike plans to widen the road from St Johns Road to Ring Road to 24 metres.

“We do not want any road widening and have told this to the government,” said Kodanada Reddy, the Banaswadi councillor. He said there have been protests against the plan and letters were written to the Mayor expressing that road widening should be avoided in the area.

“There are many alternative roads here that can withstand the traffic,” he said. “We have submitted plans for diversion of traffic on many roads that will ease traffic in the area.”

He said he has been assured by the authorities that the project will be implemented only after exploring all the alternative options.