The process for identification of 172 trees was started last year. It was completed in the last week of August. (Archives)AT LEAST 172 trees, including 21 green ones, are set to face the axe at Panjab University. These trees are situated throughout the varsity campus, including Girls Hostel No. 1, 2, and UIET campus.
The 21 green trees are eucalyptus, which are overgrown and declared dangerous for the human safety. Other trees are very old, dry and declared dead. These trees include mangoes, Ashoka, Terminalia Arjuna and Chukrasia Tabularis (modern neem). These 172 trees were selected by a special committee headed by Professor S K Kansal, who teaches at the Department of Chemistry. The UT forest and wildlife department has accepted the report of the PU committee and allowed it to axe the trees on the condition that the varsity will have to replant similar number of plants throughout the campus.
A senior horticulture department officer said, “Most of the trees have attained their age. Their roots are more than 3 metres down in the earth. A few are trees, whose roots are less than 50-cm-deep in the earth. Such trees can be relocated to somewhere else.”
Deputy Conservator of Forest Dr Abdul Qayum said, “I along with PU committee members personally inspected all the trees. There are a few trees which are green, but these were declared dangerous to human lives. We have given permission to PU authorities for axing these trees. We have instructed PU authorities to plant a similar number of plants on the campus.”
Senior divisional engineer with PU horticulture department, Anil Thakur, said, “UT forest department has given us the green signal for chopping off 172 trees. The representatives of UT forest department physically inspected most of these trees. As many as 151 trees out of 172 are dead and cannot be replanted elsewhere. Twenty-one green tress were declared vulnerable and dangerous for the human lives in Girls Hostel Nos 1 and 2. The process for identification of 172 trees was started last year. It was completed in the last week of August. Recently, we received approval from the UT forest and wildlife department for axing the trees.”
Thakur also claimed that since June 5, 2019, around 8,000 plants had been planted throughout the university.
