PUNE In a reckless act of hacking trees as many as six fully grown trees were axed inside the Mahalaxmi temple premises at Gadital, Hadapsar. Environment activists and Area Sabha Association of Pune, green pune movement held a silent protest on Tuesday to show the devastation of green cover
The Tree authority officer of the Hadapsar ward office admitted his mistake and visited the spot when the activists complained, thus filing a panchnama against the trustees. “The trustees have been writing for requests to trim tree branches as they were overhead and hanging low over the passing road. Besides they also mentioned that there were plenty of migratory birds and bats in the trees whose droppings littered the temple premises. We had given them permission to trim the branches and not to cut them completely. After I received complaints from the residents and activists, I visited the area and they had completely destroyed the trees. Hence, after panchnama I penalsed them to plant 15 trees in place of the six trees they destroyed,” said Prasad Katkar, tree officer, Hadapsar ward office.
The trustees mentioned in the letter that besides the bird droppings, the birds also dropped chunks of meat and fish into the temple premises thus causing a problem to devotees, hence Katkar said he gave the permission on religious beliefs and to maintain peace.
{{/usCountry}}The trustees mentioned in the letter that besides the bird droppings, the birds also dropped chunks of meat and fish into the temple premises thus causing a problem to devotees, hence Katkar said he gave the permission on religious beliefs and to maintain peace.
{{/usCountry}}But residents living in the area feel that it is injustice to the many birds which were nesting in the big banyan trees that were hacked. Ajay Patel, a resident said, “During the lockdown, with no devotees visiting the temple, the trees in the premise had become a sanctuary for many migratory birds and bats. When I heard the noise of wood being cut, I rushed to see that almost all the branches were being hacked and the bird nests were thrown in the nullah flowing nearby. I complained to the ward office and requested them to visit and stop this.”
“It is sad to see such devastation. The trees which were well within the premises are heavily pruned or cut. Though the permission was to prune the branches which were stated to be coming over road and hence supposedly were a safety threat,” said Sathya Natrajan, part of the Area Sabha Association.