Felling of trees on Gandipet road begins

Plea to allow translocation of decades-old trees ignored

May 10, 2021 09:18 pm | Updated May 11, 2021 09:00 am IST - HYDERABAD

Trees being cut down on the Gandipet road in Hyderabad.

Trees being cut down on the Gandipet road in Hyderabad.

Everyone has their priorities. Even as COVID second wave is rampaging across the fear stricken population, the Roads & Buildings department has thought it fit to complete the road widening work at Gandipet by chopping giant decades-old trees, ignoring a pending request from a voluntary body to freely translocate them, on Monday.

“Absolutely devastated to see the trees being chopped after I had appealed to the department to give me time till the first monsoon showers to shift the trees as the climate is not suitable for the translocation. But they seem to be a in hurry to get the hack job done,” bemoaned Vata Foundation trustee P. Uday Krishna.

There are some 286 trees on either side of the road and the Tree Protection Committee (TPC) has “permitted” cutting 244 trees and allowed 42 trees for translocation! In a letter submitted to the chief engineer concerned, the Founder-Trustee has appealed to allow his organisation to save the trees except for eucalyptus and subabul variety and pointed out that as many as 2,000 trees have been successfully translocated after they were marked for felling in the last few years.

Interestingly, the tree chopping was halted few months ago after Municipal Administration and Urban Development Secretary Arvind Kumar intervened to a twitter appeal by the Foundation and other like-minded citizens and asked his officials to get in touch to provide a smooth translocation.

“Hyderabad Growth Corridor officials were very supportive and listened to our point of view but realised the road does not come under their ambit. I immediately approached the R&B department and was sure they will heed to my plea as no felling had happened in recent days,” Mr. Uday Krishna said.

The Foundation is now planning to approach the court seeking a halt to the tree felling as the Supreme Court too had recently took a serious note of cutting trees for roads widening. In the meantime, the organisation is using Twitter to appeal to the powers that be to stop the felling.

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