100-year-old trees saved from the axe

100-year-old trees saved from the axe

Greens rushed to Cubbon Park on Friday to stop the felling of the trees in front of the Survey Office

PK Surendran. Bangalore



Timely intervention of the Greens on Friday saved at least four trees in the Cubbon Park that have been housing there since long.
It seems that the Public Works Department (PWD) had given the permission to "prune" four trees just in front of the Survey Office of India as they were "blocking" the office view. But in the process, the axe men almost denuded two trees of their dense shady branches. Environmentalists Bimal Desai and Leo Saldanha rushed to the spot and stopped the tree felling.
Desai told DNA that they were tipped off by a television crew. "Had they not informed me, four trees that are about a century old, might have been chopped off. It's a lie that they were pruning trees; actually, they were cutting off the branches and possibly might have chopped off the trees later," he said.
When contacted, a functionary at the survey office insisted they were only "pruning the trees" to remove the branches blocking the office board.
Desai, whose petition challenging the construction of underground metro station in Cubbon Park is pending with the High Court, said that he was contemplating "contempt of court" proceedings against the Tree Officer who sanctioned this move. His lawyer, MG Kumar, said that when the petition regarding the use of Cubbon Park land for metro station is pending in the Court, cutting off the trees amounted to contempt of court. Tree Officer Suresh, was unavailable for comments