KENDRAPARA: Resentment is brewing among locals after the Roads and Buildings department cut down many matured palm, neem, date-palm, banyan and other trees reportedly for renovating the Rajkanika-Kandia road.
Local residents had planted trees on both sides of the 13-km road in the past. Narahari Patra of Kandia village said the road was a stretch of greenery that provided shade and fresh air to locals. The trees were a part of the memories of many villagers who grew up in the area. However, hundreds of trees, aged more than half a century, are being chopped down to widen the road. It is also being alleged that many trees are being felled unnecessarily, he said.
Sources said earlier, hundreds of trees were cut down for widening the 50-km long Kendrapara-Chandabali road. Though villagers raised objections, their grievances fell on deaf ears. Sudhanshu Parida, a local environmentalist, said, “While the Forest department is planting saplings under various schemes every year to make villages and roadside greener, little has been done to stop illegal felling of trees.
All the money pumped into such afforestation programmes would go waste if steps are not taken to stop reckless felling of trees on the pretext of road widening work and other development projects.” The decision to cut down trees along the Rajkanika-Kandia road would negatively impact the environment of the area, Parida added.
Assistant Engineer of Roads and Buildings department, Rajkanika Jyoti Ranjan Behera said, “The trees were felled to widen roads to decongest traffic. To compensate the loss, two times the number of trees being axed would be planted as per the guidelines of the Forest department.”