We all are aware that urban trees have an enormous positive impact on the well-being of the Environment as well as our own physical, social and mental health.
Trees harbour their ecosystems and are of economic benefit too.
However, protecting existing trees in the neighbourhood is a challenge. Whether it is the economic forces of the Builders, or DHBVN, the RWAs and the Residents often fight losing battles and full-grown trees succumb to the onslaught of unforgiving electric saws. This happened recently in Blocks B, D and M in South City 1.
Documented below is one such account by Anita Kaul (M 124), of the slaughter of a tree in M Block on the 7th of March 2024.
An unusual sound and incessant barking of her pet made her get up from her workstation. She looked out from her second-floor balcony and was horrified to see two men axing a tree brutally, just outside her gate. She ran downstairs and shouted, asking them to stop. They said they were from the electricity department and were replacing the overhead wires because of which the tree had to be cut.
She pleaded with them and asked to speak with their supervisor. She explained to the Supervisor, that if the top of the tree was interfering, they could have just pruned it and not cut it so cruelly. He understood and yelled at the Labour asking them to stop. The gash on the tree was deep and thinking it could be saved, she asked them to wrap something around the cut. Half an hour later she saw that the tree top had fallen. She was shocked. The gash was too deep and her heart bore the brunt. She felt injured and sad because she was unable to save the tree.
Anita recounted that this tree had been there for over two decades and was a kind of landmark. It was a haven for birds like the prinia, the Brahminy mynah, sunbirds, Robins, Bulbuls, Crows, Pheasants, Koels and parakeets. The occasional chipmunk had also shown its dainty dance on it. Bird songs, meanwhile, proved to be a rejuvenating connection to Nature. Now, looking at the tree stump makes her feel like she has lost a green limb.
Five years ago, Anita’s daughter had managed to save two trees from being felled by a construction company, when she demanded to see the permission letter of the Forest Department. Interestingly, a large branch of a full-grown tree was produced as evidence in a Court in a Tehsil in HP. The owner of the tree dragged the person who had cut the tree to Court and had him arrested saying that the man had tried to kill his child, the tree.
What remains in question is the insensitivity of the Government departments towards our environment, as also the stuporous state we are in, when it comes to such tragedies, which in turn axe our right to breathe clean air.
