The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Protests stall cutting of tree

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Monday, Aug 18, 2008
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Protests stall cutting of tree

Special Correspondent

— Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

for green cover: The police removing a protester who tried to block the cutting down of an avenue tree in front the University College on Sunday.

Thiruvananthapuram: A move to cut down an avenue tree in front of the University College for the development of Mahatma Gandhi Road had to be aborted on Sunday following protests by the Communist Party of India and the Shiv Sena.

The protests started in the morning as soon as workers engaged by a contractor started lopping off the lower branches of the tree.

The work came to a halt after CPI and Sena activists squatted on the road shouting slogans.

Revenue Divisional Officer K. Ramachandran arrived on the spot and tried to negotiate a settlement with the protesters, but the attempt failed. The police later removed the activists. Mr. Ramachandran said the move to cut down the tree was put on hold. The effort would resume only after the issue was sorted out.

On the warpath

Environmental organisations and political parties have been on the warpath against the efforts to cut down avenue trees for widening the road. Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL), the agency executing the City Roads Improvement Programme, has finalised a compensatory tree-planting programme.

But environmentalists point out that not a single sapling was planted on the Pattom-Plamoodu and the Karamana-Killipalam roads developed by the PWD.

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