Felling trees for metro is insensible

Felling trees for metro is insensible

Vaishalli Chandra. Bangalore

Like many of the greens in Bangalore, renowned eco-feminist, Vandana Shiva, who was in the city said that felling trees to make way for the metro is not a sensible move and can have adverse effects in future.
"I don't feel that it is a smart idea to cut trees. In fact, it is a criminal act, especially in a country like India where the summers are harsh and monsoons heavy," said Shiva. The environmentalist felt that cutting trees further will only de-stabilise the climatic conditions.
The activist went on to add that the act of assaulting trees is almost similar to attacking the Indian culture.
"Addressing people in a foreign land, Tagore said that while they learn by brick and motar, we Indians, learn through our forests and trees. He called ours a forest civilisation — aranya sanskriti. So doing away with trees means hurting our unique heritage," she said. Shiva also blamed the affluent class of the country and said that their obsession with hi-tech, modern ways of life meant cutting of more and more trees, thus inconveniencing the poor.
Be it for the metro works in Bangalore or for constructing highways in Andhra Pradesh or making way for broader roads in Dehradun so that ministers' cars can reach their destinations faster, trees are being felled across the country.