DU unites on trees facing axe for Commonwealth Games

DU’s teachers and students launched a campaign to save age-old trees being axed in the North Campus to overhaul a sports complex for C'wealth Games 2010, report Swaha Sahoo and Avishek G Dastidar.

Delhi University’s teachers and students on Monday launched a campaign to save age-old trees being either axed or replanted in the North Campus to overhaul a sports complex, in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games 2010.

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At least 200 trees have been felled or transplanted and at least 150 more are under threat. Protestors claimed many more would eventually be felled. They said the ones being transplanted, too, are dying due to the callous technique adopted. “At least 1,000 trees have been marked for felling and 150-year-old trees can’t ever be successfully transplanted,” said Suraj Yadav, lecturer, Shraddhanand College.

The university has received Rs 250 crore to create the infrastructure for the Games. The stadium coming up next to the Vice Regal Lodge will host rugby matches and will be a training venue for netball and boxing during the Games. A staggering 10,000 square metre have been earmarked for it.

Last year, HT broke the news that these trees, a vital chunk of North Campus’s greenery, had been marked for felling. Earlier this month, students wrote to VC Prof Deepak Pental about the threat. “Masons carrying out the transplanting are cutting roots close to the trunk,” said Govind Singh, a PhD scholar.

Jagbir Singh, junior engineer, DU defended the drive saying the job of transplantation had been outsourced. “It is being done with 85 % efficiency,” he claimed.