Maya Sharma: Concerned residents of Bangalore have tried protests and legal action to save the trees - and this death ceremony was a way of keeping the campaign going.
Says Dharma Somashekhar, a member of Hasiru Usiru: "It is our thanksgiving for the trees which have been taking care of us for the past 50 years. Basically we are losing our sensitivity towards nature."
Metro authorities say that the alignment cannot be changed to save the trees, that an underground metro would in fact destroy more trees -- and that they have already planted 15, 000 trees to replace those that are lost.
"If you get the Metro overhead, all the place on the side will go. Where is the place to plant the trees? They are saying they will plant outside Bangalore - if they plant it outside Bangalore, how are the people here going to benefit? Does it make sense?" Dharma says.
S Sivasailam, MD of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, has this to answer: "But the issue is -- is it possible to plant those in the locality? The answer is Bangalore Metro is not averse to it -- should not be averse to it."
It is an emotive issue in the city of Bangalore -- which resonates wherever people feel the cost of a development project might just be too high.