A banyan tree on Sarat Bose Road was uprooted on Wednesday morning, disrupting traffic for hours in the heart of Calcutta.

The uprooting of the tree, which stood near Sarat Bose Road’s intersection with Ray Street, in the Bhowanipore area, surprised onlookers as there was no apparent
reason.

The tree, standing on the pavement of the north-bound (Minto Park-bound) flank of Sarat Bose Road, fell around 8am. 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 south-bound (Deshapriya Park-bound) flank was open for traffic, after the branches and debris were removed, around 12.30pm, police said. The north-bound flank was opened around 6.30pm.

Vehicles had to be diverted through Chakraberia Road, Elgin Road and Birla Planetarium.

It took so long because the tree was not hacked into pieces and removed from the spot. Instead, the branches were trimmed and the trunk lifted and taken to Park Circus Maidan, where it was transplanted.

“Sarat Bose Road was choked. But the ripple effect on AJC Bose Road, among the busiest arterial roads in Calcutta, was the real problem,” said an officer of the South Traffic Guard.

It led to long snarls on Loudon Street, Rawdon Street, Theatre Road and even till Ballygunge.

Many pool cars, private cars and buses ferrying schoolchildren were stuck. “It took me close to an hour to reach Minto Park from Dhakuria,” said the father of a seven-year-old girl, who is in Class II at La Martiniere for Girls. He was driving to bring her daughter back home from school. It was almost double the usual time, he said.

Saws, ladders, JCB cranes and payloaders — needed to cut trees and remove debris — were at work on Sarat Bose Road for most of the day.

The debris was removed by a team from the civic body. Mithri Mitti, an organisation that works for the environment and has volunteered to transplant the tree, lent a helping hand.

Civic officials were mum on what felled the tree. It was surrounded by concrete at its base.

A walk down any pavement of Calcutta would reveal that the trees rising from it have very little soil around their base. The footpath, right up to the tree, has been paved with paver blocks or concrete. Though this has been known for years, the civic body has hardly removed the concrete from near the base of the trees.

“This leaves very little scope for surface roots to grow. The surface roots help the tree stand erect against strong winds,” said a naturalist.

Unscientific pruning — the portion that is accessible is pruned and the other side is left untouched — distorts the balance of trees, making them prone to fall.

Sanjay Jaisingh, the founder of the organisation that is transplanting the tree, said the “tree might have weakened because of a previous storm and the concrete around the base only made things worse”.

The tree reached Park Circus Maidan around 7pm. “The machines are excavating the ground. Once it is done, we will put the trunk with the roots. It will need constant attention for the first few days,” said Jaisingh.