Residents want stopping of mindless destruction of city’s green cover

Even as residents staged a protest against cutting of a tree in front of a liquor vend in Rani ka Bagh area here on Tuesday, it was not a first such incident as hundreds of trees planted in markets and residential areas of the city have already been cut during the past few years.

While the residents, NGOs and the government are trying to increase the green cover and several tree plantation drives are being held every year in this regard, the greenery, especially in the city, is continuously declining as most of the residents do not let a tree grow in front of their shops or near their homes.

The fresh incident in which the tree was cut outside a liquor vend was the result of the common misconception that a tree would hinder their commercial establishment’s visibility to the customers. “Not long ago, there were incidents in the city, wherein shopkeepers poured acid on the roots of a tree, which caused it to wilt and die. This way, people used to get rid of a tree without attracting punitive action,” said an old-timer, Jagtar Singh.

The residents demanded that the trees in the market places and in residential areas not only provide clean air, but also give a cooling effect, especially during summer. If everyone starts destroying trees near their properties, it would not be far when there would be no tree left in the city.

The city has already lost its green cover to mindless development projects. In a recent example, hundreds of fully grown trees on the Mall road and elsewhere were chopped off to pave way for a Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS). With the BRTS buses off the roads for a long time, the residents are questioning the cutting of trees.

“The buses are not operational and neither do we have the trees. All we have got is a corridor barricaded by iron grills,” said Jaswant Kumar, another resident.

Amritsar