how can progress be progressive how should infrastructure navigate a balance with horticulture and is not an arboreal heritage as important as any other aspect of a communitys collective history these are the questions that will accompany the felling of some hundred giant banyan trees that line the alibagmandwa road as it expands from a twolane to a fourlane road to accommodate the growing traffic in what is now being viewed as a part of the greater mumbai metropolitan region alibag once the sleepy bucolic place across the harbour where are you from alibag meant are you dumb has suddenly become hip mumbai has landed there in the form of the rapacious tourist or to set up home along the mango plantations the recent launch of the roro boat service opened up further possibilities the roadwidening of the 20 km arterial road that connects mandwa jetty to alibag city is thus a logical infrastructural intervention say senior government officials but treelovers want the road as well as the trees some of which were planted more than a 100 years ago and have formed gorgeous shaded canopies why cant they make the two new lanes on either side of the trees asks sudarshan loyalka an alibag wadi owner citing examples in the west a banyan takes so long to grow and just minutes to chop down says alibag resident lalita ramdas who was foundermember and chairperson of greenpeace india all this treecutting has a serious impact on the water table and overall ecology of an area horticultural experts suggest that while roadwidening must be done trees can easily be replanted a banyan is one of the easiest to transplant through vegetative propagation says yeshwant khaire who as chief garden superintendent of pune municipal corporation had successfully relocated numerous banyan trees that had been dislodged by road widening he suggests that they be transplanted to nearby locations or replanted along the widened road raigad collector nidhi chaudhary says that the trees have to find new homes but not along the road banyan trees are majestic local and have great religious significance they are great in forests grasslands school grounds but along the highway can be risky as they grow laterally indefinitely and can damage roads and also cause accidents the indigenous banyan tree has repeatedly extended its roots into indian mythology and literature the overhead multiplying roots have been compared to samsara or the endless worldly cycles of life it offers great shade and is often the spot at which people gather like a rural coffee house you almost identify a place based on certain trees says horticultural consultant robert fernandes when you dislodge the horticultural culture of a place you are also dislodging culture he gives the example of how public sensitivity catalysed authorities to expand cadell road in mumbais shivaji park to accommodate two giant rain trees in the middle