A group of green activists gathered in front of the building and tried to stop the tree cutting. This led to tense moments and commotion for some time. After the owner of the building stated that he was cutting the tree only with prior permission, the green activists left the place deciding to take up the matter with the Revenue Divisional Officer for granting permission for tree cutting without inspection of the trees by the members of the Tree Protection Committee.
Green activists told The Hindu that they were not against tree cutting for paving the way for development works, but works should not become a plank for removing trees without any justification.
If such a trend continued, then the city would lose even the minimal green cover that it has at present.
Mohammed Saleem of Environment Conservation Group said that it was time for the administration to pay attention to the serious problem rather than flaying the green activists.
In the last two day more than five tree have been cut in the city limits.
When approached by the green activists, they claim it was cut by the electricity board.
When contacted, the officials say that they had neither asked nor ordered the cutting of trees.
The delegation that thronged the RDO’s office included Sujinee Balu, Secretary of Race Course and Neighbourhood Association, R. Raveendran of Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore, Yoganathan of Matram besides Gokul Ram and Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan.