Tree-cutting put on hold at Victoria Museum

Felling of decades-old trees on the premises of the Victoria Museum on Bandar Road, to make way for construction of the proposed Coastal Museum, kicked up a row resulting in police intervention on Saturday.

Giant logs and branches were scattered all over the garden on the museum premises and this has not gone well with people. With the news spreading, people turned up at the museum premises late in the evening.

Sensing trouble, police instructed the museum authorities to stop tree-cutting, and following the orders, it was temporarily put on hold, said K. Chitti Babu, Assistant Director of Victoria Museum.

At a time when the government is trying hard to promote greenery and the importance of planting trees, Victoria Museum authorities seem to be oblivious to this and have cut decades-old trees. This is not acceptable, fumed Panduranga Rao, a resident of Suryaraopet.

In all, museum authorities planned to cut 12 giant trees, which are aged above 80 years. A contract was also issued to a private firm to cut the trees.

Everything was being done after obtaining due permissions from higher authorities and even forest department. The contract to cut the trees was issued only after forest department officials gave the clearance and an auction was also conducted, claimed Mr. Babu.

The move is aimed at construction of a coastal museum at a cost of about Rs.4.8 crore. There is not much of space available on the museum premises and all the 12 trees that were identified are decades-old and their branches are already collapsing, he explained.

“When the police asked for forest clearance, the authorities showed them the same. We will now take a call after submitting a report to higher authorities,” said Mr. Babu.