Activists plan ‘funeral rites’ for felled trees at Yadavagiri

Mysore/Mysuru: Fully grown shade trees on the footpath have been cut overnight on the Vivekananda Road at Yadavagiri, inviting the wrath of residents and public who have now planned a ‘funeral rites’ ceremony next Sunday to protest the killing of the trees.

Shockingly, two healthy Gulmohar trees that are older than 40 to 50 years have been chopped off and the branches of another tree have been cut to facilitate the public to have a proper view of a private hospital on the road.

The trees were located just 100 metres from the KRS Road Ta.Ra.Su. Circle and some water pipeline works are on. Mounds of mud have been piled up on the road and using the road works as an alibi, the giant shade trees have been cut and no permission from the Forest Department has been sought.

S.K. Dinesh, a resident of the area, told Star of Mysore that the trees were located near the private hospital and the trees were actually a good place for the patients of the hospital to sit. It also provided good air in the surroundings.

“While the hospital authorities are giving conflicting statements, the Forest Department wants a formal written complaint. I had drawn the attention of the Department and sent many photos of the destruction of the green cover. The Department is giving irresponsible answers,” he alleged.

Actually, the Forest Department has powers to register complaints suo-motu but here, the Department is acting in a strange manner, he alleged. “If the Forest Department cannot protect trees, then who will,” Dinesh questioned.

Another resident, Bhamy V. Shenoy of the Mysuru Grahakara Parishat said that as soon as the trees were cut, he had called up Deputy Range Forest Officer (DRFO) Chandrashekar who refused to come to the spot despite requests.

“The officer claimed that he was busy with some other work and asked me to file a formal complaint. Three trees have been massacred and the hospital authorities have accepted that their contractor, instead of pruning some branches, have cut all of them. Hopefully a penalty will be imposed. Unfortunately, the Forest Department is suspecting the intentions of people who complain about the destruction of green cover,” he said.

“The value of the trees runs into crores of rupees and not only money, look at the brazen destruction under the very nose of the Forest Department. Neither the Forest Department nor the MCC are functioning as per the wishes of the residents of Mysuru. We are planning a ‘funeral rites’ ceremony to mourn the killing of the trees. We will mourn the death of the tree as the death of a human being and this is the only way we can register a protest,” he said, expressing his displeasure at the Forest Department’s attitude.

We will initiate action, clarifies DRFO

Denying that there has been a dereliction of duty when the incident of tree cutting was reported to the Forest Depart-ment by residents of Yadavagiri, Deputy Range Forest Officer (DRFO) H.S. Chandrashekar has clarified that he would inspect the spot and book cases against people who have cut trees.

“We have got information that two Gulmohar trees have been cut and the Department has not accorded permission to this. We will not tolerate this and will identify and take penal action against the persons who have cut the trees. A few residents had called me to alert us about the tree felling and I was asking them if there are any photos or videos of the tree cutting. If the public complain, the weightage is more and there are many incidents where we have raided such places and have recovered tree cutting equipment and at the same time we have booked cases,” he said.

Meanwhile, Manju, the owner of Vijaya Healthcare in front of which the trees were cut said that the trees were hollow and people were scared to go near them and park vehicles under them. “We were planning to seek permission from the Forest Department to cut the trees. Some pipeline works are on here and those workers might have cut the trees,” he said.