Berhampur: Berhampur Municipal Corporation claims to have taken steps to transform Berhampur into a green city. But, the ULB is ruthlessly felling trees at night for road widening.
There are several boulevards in the city and the stretch from Ramlingam Pond to Mango Market touching the Girls’ High School, Sub Registrar Office, City High School ground in Prem Nagar and Housing Board Square is one among them. There are about 70 trees on both sides of this stretch.
But it is going to be devoid of trees as their chopping has already started. Ten trees have so far been cut down.
The felling of trees has deeply disturbed the environmentalists and the common people. Their investigation has revealed that the BMC is widening this stretch for constructing drains on both sides under Odisha Disaster Recovery Project.
They also have come to know that no new plantation is on the cards to make up for the loss of green cover, making them wonder what hardship the city commuters are going to face in the coming summer when there will be no shade.
Sadly, trees that are standing for decades are being axed. They not only provide shade to the commuters but are also instrumental in maintaining the city’s temperature.
In the beginning, the trees were cut during day. As it did not go down well with the locals, including some businessmen, who opposed the ‘green murder,’ the process was resumed in the night after a gap of a few days.
Some residents alleged that felling of trees begins at 11 pm and goes on till dawn. “JCB machines are being used in the operation. These machines are uprooting the trees from their base and then they are being transported in trucks out of the city where they are dumped,” they alleged adding, “The trees we have seen in the evening have vanished the next morning.”
The news of trees being chopped at night has reached ‘Sabuja Vahini’, a social outfit working to protect trees. Saturday night the members came down to the spot and opposed it. However, by that time three trees had been axed. The members took the trees to Neelakantheswar cremation ground and buried them.
In fact, the BMC has all along been drawing flak for removing green cover on one of the arterial roads in the city.
Lashing out at the BMC for its indiscriminate act of felling old trees, local residents said the authority’s claim of city beautification is of no meaning. “This is not the single stretch where trees are being cut. There are other places where such activities without any planning to replenish the loss are being undertaken,” they said.
When contacted, BMC Commissioner Chakraborty Singh Rathore said, “The trees are being felled for road widening and construction of drains. But we will plant three times the number of trees we fell. We have discussed the issue with Odisha Forest Development Corporation. An amount will be deposited with OFDC and with that money trees will be planted at Neelakantheswar cremation ground.”
PNN