Tree axed in Cubbon Park

Tree axed in Cubbon Park

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Cubbon Park area, one of the last lung spaces in the heart of Bangalore, lost a spot of green on Friday when a huge tree was cut down. Though the 50-year-old tree looked healthy it was axed for reasons of “old age and weakening of roots.”

Officials, who were supervising the operation, said that “a part of the tree had fallen during the recent monsoon and it posed danger to pedestrians as it was standing where there was dense public movement.” The officials also quoted an order of the BBMP stating that all unstable trees, either precariously poised or those that have decayed could be cut.

The BBMP officials, however, said that the Forest Department had to certify the tree as “unsafe” before they could be brought down.

The BBMP that had taken up widening of roads in the city also had plans to plant trees in places where they had been cut. It had directed the contractors to make space for planting trees, an official said.