HYDERABAD: In a temporary relief for the residents of Tellapur and Nallagandla, the Forest Divisional Officer of Shamshabad on Thursday put on hold, albeit temporarily, the order to fell nearly 130 trees as part of road widening project.
It was only last week that residents around the area woke up to a rude shock of seeing close to 20-40 trees chopped away from the thick canopy gracing the streets.
When they enquired as to who cut the trees, they were informed it was for an R&B road expansion project wherein 7 km of the road is being widened by adding one more lane up to the ORR.
The residents since then have been staging protests, appealing to officials and taking to Twitter to campaign against the felling of the trees.
On Thursday as well, close to 100 locals gathered and took out a rally to protest the felling of trees and demanded the government to revoke the decision. “Due protocols have not been followed for cutting the trees. The tree protection committee gave permission to cut trees before December 2018 and so as on date the permission has lapsed and hence it is illegal. Due to this lapse, 99 full-grown trees which were at least 30 years old have been lost,” Kajal Maheshwari, a resident of the area said.
‘’We are not going to let go of this fight as this green cover is essential for this area. We have come together for this cause under the banner of ‘Save Nallagandla Trees’ and will continue the protests to sensitise the locals and ensure that the government takes our views on the issue before proceeding further,” Suresh Matta, another resident, said.
Meanwhile, forest officials maintained that the permission was given by the Tree Protection Committee and all due process had been followed. ‘’We assured the people that three times more number of trees would be planted in their area. However, now that the residents have protested we have temporarily stopped the process until due permissions come in and residents’ views are taken into consideration,” Shivaiah, Forest Divisional Officer, Shamshabad, said. The residents, however, have decided not to give up the fight and hold another rally on Sunday.