Green warriors protest axing of trees on Residency Road

Green warriors protest axing of trees on Residency Road
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Environmentalists in the city embraced and climbed trees and even refused to come down, in protest against the Bangalore Task Force on Traffic Management (BTFTM) for chopping full-grown trees on Residency Road on Thursday. The environment group claimed that the BTFTM, along with the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC), were destroying the garden city’s natural heritage.

Environment Support Group (ESG) director Leo F. Saldhana said the BCC had no authority to fell these trees and claimed that they were chopping them illegally.

Saldanha said, ‘‘The BCC has not taken permission from the forest department. The forest department has been reviewing a letter submitted by us on March 23 and have agreed to take action against the proposed felling. But the BCC has not awaited this clarification. Instead, they have allowed the BTFTM to axe eight trees.’’

‘‘Our activists climbed up the trees and tried to defy the BTFTM, but we were whisked away by the police and felling continued unabated. Our team then registered a police complaint against the BCC, but the police considered our fight a lost cause.’’

Saldhana alleged that he had contacted the District Conservator of Forests (Urban) who informed the ESG that the BCC Commissioner had acted on his own volition to fell the trees.