Howrah : The 270-year-old Great Banyan tree, spread over 5 acres, uprooted by Hurricane Amfan

World’s largest banyan tree falls in Amfan

Kolkata. Super Cyclone Amfan caused havoc in many parts of West Bengal. The pride of Kolkata and the world’s largest banyan tree has also fallen into its grip. Many of its roots have been uprooted in a dangerous storm. This banyan tree planted in Howrah’s Acharya Jagdishchandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden is 270 years old. People used to come to see this tree spread over 4.67 acres.

Due to uprooting of the tree, the northwest part is seen empty. Talking to the English newspaper Telegraph, Senior Scientist Basant Kumar said that the identity of this banyan tree has almost disappeared. He also said that the exact damage will be detected after a couple of days. In recent times, it was not damaged by storms like Aila, Phani and Bulbul. But this old banyan tree has suffered a lot from Amfan. Earlier in the late 19th century the storm had damaged many of its branches.

The main trunk of this banyan tree with a circumference of 1.08 km, which was 15 meters in circumference, was removed in 1925. This entire tree now comes out of the branches and rests on its roots that hold the earth. Now Amfan has reduced its density significantly. The inner part of this tree seems quite empty in the pictures. This tree has been made its symbol by the Botanical Survey of India.

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According to Dr. Shiv Kumar, scientist at Jagdish Chandra Bose Indian Botanical Garden from October 2006 to February 2012, there are 14,000 trees of 1200-1400 variety in this Botanical Garden. He said, there are many indigenous and exotic trees which were planted by the British here to fulfill their needs and especially, their purpose behind bringing mahogany here was to use its wood to build water ships. Dr. Kumar, who has served in this garden for six years, said that one of the major reasons for the damage caused to this garden due to the storms yesterday was being surrounded by concrete construction on three sides of this garden.