BANGALORE: A division bench of the High Court on Monday lambasted the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) over planting saplings and maintaining trees in the city.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice H G Ramesh, asked the civic body, “Going by your claim, if 60 per cent of the saplings you have planted have survived, there should be eight lakh trees. But where are they?”
The bench was hearing a suo motu petition on indiscriminate felling of trees in the city. The BBMP had submitted in a previous hearing that as trees were being cut for various development projects, it had planted around 12 lakh saplings, of which 60 per cent have survived.
Meanwhile, the civic body has maintained that it is the Forest Department’s duty to care for the saplings.
On Monday, the bench demanded an affidavit on June 21, with information on the number of saplings planted, the ones destroyed and those still standing, before adjourning the case.