The Mysore Grahakara Parishat has expressed concern over the alleged felling of healthy trees in the guise of removing old and diseased trees.
Many avenue trees in Mysore were old or diseased and posed a threat to life and property.
The Mysore City Corporation and the Forest Department have been identifying and removing such trees, said Bhamy V. Shenoy of MGP here.
“But, it appears that even healthy trees are being axed in the name of removing old trees,” he alleged.
According to Mr. Shenoy, a couple of days ago, a Gulmohar tree on Vivekananda Road was felled. The official, who had come to fell the tree, said he had received a complaint from a house owner that the tree had a hollow and was likely to topple. Permission was given to chop the tree.
“The question is, just because a tree is hollow, is it likely to topple? There are hundreds of trees all over Mysore that have hollows and have stood there for decades,” Mr. Shenoy said.
According to experts, hollows are quite common in trees. In the present case, the hollow seems to have been caused by the unscientific pruning of a major branch and did not seem to indicate any unhealthiness in the tree, he contended.
Another point that made the felling of the tree suspicious was the fact that the persons who had come to cut the tree showed a receipt that they paid Rs. 1,000 for the tree.
“But firewood dealers tell us that the tree is worth at least Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,000,” he said.
