BMC gives green signal to hack trees

A number of trees which were felled on the Malad link road were cut off on express orders from the BMC as they were obstructing the view of some commercial establishments on the road. The pretext given was that the trees were diseased. But activists rubbished the claim and said that the trees were more than 25 years old, and healthy.

Activist Nandini Kulkarni said, “I got a call from my
colleagues informing me that trees on the main road were being cut. The trees were an obstruction to commercial establishments. The officer in-charge claimed that the trees were diseased but he did not have the permission letter.

When I asked them for the letter they fled,” said Kulkarni, who had the very same day witnessed  another such incident at a different location. She saw that trees were to be chopped off without permission. She called the police and the police arrived and that stopped the trees from being cut.

“I was sad to see a full grown tree reduced to stubs. The ward officer claimed that his men had the permission to cut the tree. The local residents got them to stop the cutting but when the residents left, the men got back to cutting trees,” she said.

Devendra Jain, assistant municipal commissioner of P-north ward, said that a junior tree officer had inspected the trees and the permission was given to cut the trees. However, he was not able to produce a written permission.