BENGALURU: Taking a cue from the Chipko movement, a group of activists and locals got together on Bannerghatta Road on Wednesday, asking the government and the Karnataka High Court to save trees from getting cut for Metro Phase-2 line.
Citizens hugged the trees, and took pictures, which will be submitted to the government and the high court. Sandalwood actresses Ragini Dwivedi and Sonika Gowda also joined hands with citizens. “We do not want the trees to be cut.
We want the expert committee to be abolished as it has repeatedly failed to do its duty. We demand that a new committee, comprising activists and concerned citizens, be constituted. We want action against all those, including officials, who have failed in their duty and misguided the court,” said Arun P, an activist. Locals and activists stood around 30 odd trees near Dairy Circle on Bannerghatta Road, which are to be axed for the Metro line. Already, 15 trees were cut last week.
“We demand a public hearing be held and the Tree Authority make public all inputs submitted to it. They are not just misguiding citizens, but even the courts,” the locals said. They added that Covid-19 has only shown the importance of clean air. “On one hand, the government is asking us to safeguard the environment, and on another, it is turning a blind eye to agencies axing trees. Not a single tree has been transplanted and there is no Tree Census report prepared so far. If the survey to axe trees during the lockdown was done, as the government claims, then why was no tree survey done to know how many are there?” they asked.