Not a good idea

This one is a freshly planted banyan close to JLB Rd. traffic lights in MUDA Circle. Virshamitra Gurukar, who has been at work on this roadside patch for the past one week usually plants honge. Cattle don't fancy the plant. A fully grown honge provides good shade. Emits with oxygen anti-tuberculosis substance in the air, according to Mr Gurukar.
Honge doesn't need a thorny tree-guard. Other saplings such as banyan do, to protected them from ravage by passing cattle. Mr Gurukar went for banyan, presumably, on advice from a passer-by. His point was no one (other than cattle) vandalises a banyan because of religious sentiments.
This banyan on T Narsipur Rd. is worshiped by villagers. Auspicious day in the week is Monday, when people from nearby villages flock to this banyan to do puja .

Snag with planting banyan is you never can tell which way it would spread as it grows up. Planting one, that too close to a traffic signal on JLB Rd., amounts planting a potential traffic hazard for our grand-children and their children. Surely, we wouldn't want, do we, Mr Gurukar to be remembered by future generations for sowing a seed for a traffic hazard. Besides, it is never a good idea to have roadside trees that spread horizontally.