Canopy hacked, the bare trunk of a banyan tree on Sarat Bose Road was taken to Park Circus Maidan around 7pm on Wednesday, around 11 hours after it got uprooted.
The trunk, which stood 40ft tall and weighed over 30 tonnes, was transplanted on a slice of the ground near Don Bosco Park Circus.
A group of men first dug the soil around 2.5m deep. A crane was then used to lift the trunk and insert it into the pit.
The dead roots of the tree were trimmed before the transplant. The branches of the tree were hacked on Sarat Bose Road itself so the travel to Park Circus was easier.
“After digging, we put vermicompost inside the soil. It will surround the roots and protect them. We also laced the trunk with antifungal medicine. We put it at all the spots from where the branches were chopped. It is like putting medicine on wounds,” said Sanjay Jaisingh, founder of Mithri Mitti, the organisation that transplanted the tree.
An official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation said: “It is a welcome initiative. We have tried to transplant trees in the past. The lack of space and manpower are some of the challenges. If the tree survives and more people come forward to conduct similar drives, we will extend all possible help.”
Water and sunlight are two of the main ingredients that the tree will need for survival, said experts.
The showers that the city got on Thursday were very useful, Jaisingh said.
“A decent monsoon can be of great help. But even if the coming days are dry, we will water the tree regularly,” he said.
Sushanta Ganguly, a veteran horticulturist who retired from the KMC in 2022, said the rate of survival of banyan trees was “very good”.
“But it needs to be watered regularly. The water must not be allowed to accumulate at the base of the tree. An anti-fungal medicine is much needed,” he said.
The tree, standing on the pavement of the north-bound (Minto Park-bound) flank of Sarat Bose Road fell around 8am on Wednesday. It was at least 70 years old and the diameter of the trunk was around 4m, said an official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The fallen tree blocked both flanks of Sarat Bose Road for over four hours. The ripple effect lasted across much of south Calcutta.