Hyderabad: Lanco Hills residents protest stealthy removal of trees
HYDERABAD: Citizens in the Lanco Hills township at Manikonda have united in protest against forest officials for enabling the translocation of several ornamental/flowering trees for road-widening without proper permission.
The incident came to light on Thursday when a resident, Jasmine Singh tweeted how since October 1, trees were slowly being removed from the area and repeated complaints to the Forest Department were ignored.
It is learnt that nearly 20-40 trees have been translocated over a fortnight and no permissions have been taken. As per Forest Department rules, every tree which has to be translocated has to be identified and permission sought on an online portal with a payment of Rs 500.
The Tree Protection Committee (TPC) will then look into the matter and decide if the tree is fit for translocation or can’t be moved. “The (Lanco Hills) contractor in this case has been habitually erring on protocols. Previously, we had fined them for Rs 75,000 for translocating 75-100 trees without seeking permission about six months ago. A fortnight ago, the group translocated 12-20 trees again and we fined them Rs 10,000 as this time even though they applied for the permission, they did not wait for the TPC to assess the case and went ahead in translocating the trees,” said G Prathima, Forest Range Officer, Gachibowli.
A similar thing was repeated on Thursday, suspect forest officials. In light of this, the fate of the translocated trees hangs in balance. “The township contractors have assured us that the trees have been translocated in the same Lanco Hills complex. We will be issuing due fines to them for not waiting for the TPC’s approval and also monitor these trees,” Prathima added.
20-40 trees have vanished
A citizen Jasmine Singh tweeted that October 1, trees are slowly being removed by contractors in the name of translocation. Forest Dept officials deny giving permission