The border city of Belagavi is presently witnessing road development works and axing of massive number of old trees going on together, leaving the people as mute spectators.
So far, more than 200 trees standing on either side of the nearly four-km long busy stretch of Goaves and Peernwadi Cross in the city have been axed. A forest official told The Hindu here on Wednesday that a total of 207 trees of 38 species had been cut to enable road widening works on the Goaves-Peeranwadi Cross section of the Belagavi-Goa NH4A.
However, once the Public Works Department completed the road widening work, the Forest Department would plant new saplings on both sides of the road, he said. As per norms, 200 trees would be planted for every kilometre depending upon availability of the space, he explained.
The PWD has taken up the road widening work from Goaves to Karnataka-Goa boundary, running up to nearly 80 km.
As the people silently watched the axing of trees, the Forest official maintained that tree cutting was inevitable if the existing old roads had to be widened to address the issues related to congestion and accidents.
