Protest against felling of trees

Thiruvananthapuram: Residents of PTP Nagar and environmentalists have raised protests against felling of trees for road widening works. The members of ‘Tree Walk’ organization and residents of the forest lane area had staged a protest on Wednesday by laying a wreath on the branch of one of the trees which was felled.
According to residents, they were upset over the manner in which a wild jack tree was cut for the project.
The Public Works Department (PWD) had cut the tree on Monday for starting the construction works to widen the road. Through the protest, environmentalists and residents aim to protect another 27 trees, which have been marked for felling.
The protesters have fixed a placard saying ‘Let me Live’ on other trees, which were marked for felling.
“I have been residing in this area for the past 20 years. Being a resident of the area, the authorities could have informed us before cutting the tree. I thought they were pruning the branches, but I was shocked to see the tree being felled,” said Sandhya S.
The members of Tree Walk claimed that the tree was cut down, violating the rules. They said that it did not come up for approval of the tree protection committee. The members said that the permission was granted by the social forestry department without forming a committee.
Meanwhile, V K Prasanth MLA has requested the authorities to minimize the number of trees to be cut down.
“In a situation where the wild jack tree is getting extinct, the need to protect the tree is high,” said Anitha S, coordinator of Tree Walk.
According to the PWD assistant engineer, the road construction is planned according to the construction standards suggested by the authority. The current width of the road is 5.5m and the proposal is to widen the road to 7m.
The PWD has received permission from the social forestry department to cut 27 trees. He added that the timber was put up for auction by the forest department itself and the logging of trees will start only after that.
“The city service buses are finding it difficult to ply through the stretch. The only possible way to provide more space is by cutting the trees and widening the roads,” the official said.