In Hyderabad, close to 1,000 banyan trees were to be chopped off or translocated for a road widening project for a new national highway.

In 2019, a group of about 300 citizens from diverse backgrounds got together to fight the authorities to save their beloved trees and filed a petition.

In a big win for the citizens, recently, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed NHAI to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to minimise the felling of hundreds of these century-old banyan trees.

While three citizens — including Natasha Ramarathnam, Pranay Juvvadi, and Tejah Balantrapu — became applicants in the case, the remaining citizens organised awareness campaigns to save the giant trees.

Based on their experiences, Tejah shares five tips on how to fight for public and natural properties as individuals.

1) Come together as a group Tejah says, “We are not a big non-profit organisation or any powerful agency, we are just a group of citizens. The reason why we won is that we picked a specific issue, came together, and fought the case to the very end.”

2) Do not doubt yourself “None of us are lawyers, professionals, or in power. But we put in our time to read and speak to experts to understand the cause. It was not impossible. If we could do it, others can do it,” says Tejah.

3)  It is not good vs evil “The NHAI is doing its job. So, ideally, there are no real villains. However, we needed to highlight how development projects should learn to incorporate nature and better practices,” he says.

4) Understand what is legally possible and legally viable Tejah points out that as citizens, we may think that the national tree of India will have some legal protection but they don’t.

“We then have to negotiate a space for them in our legal framework. What we think is legal and what is viable become two different things,” he adds.

5) Do not get overwhelmed “The government’s nature is to produce volumes of documentation. Our job is to try to understand what these documents are and seek experts’ help whenever required. Have patience in understanding documents and Excel sheets,” he says.