TV
The voice raised by Mahanadi Banchao Andolan to save trees from being axed to give way to multi-storey building for MLAs in Bhubaneswar is becoming louder with each passing day as green lovers, intellectuals and political leaders are joining in.
Protesting against the government’s decision to fell hundreds of old and valuable trees from the stretch from Rabindar Mandap to Commissionerate Police office so that multi-story buildings for MLAs can be constructed, former administrator Arabinda Behera, President of Prerana Dillip Srichandan, ex-MP Tathagata Satpathy, Congress MLA Suresh Routray and many others staged a dharana under a tree, destined to be felled.
“If felling of trees is not stopped, a mass agitation would be launched in the coming days,” said Routray.
Ex-MP Satpathy said, “The compensatory plantation is said to be done at a place somewhere near Patrapada. It would be better if the proposed MLA quarters are constructed there because it would also save the trees.”
Expressing his concern about the trees being felled for MLA quarters, former administrator Behera said, “Construction of buildings at the cost of hundreds of trees doesn’t seem judicious.”
Earlier, students and job aspirants who come to Bhubaneswar from different districts used to read under the trees, now reduced to mere stumps. As of now, they can be found reading under some other trees, which are not long for this world.
These students too urged the government to refrain from cutting down trees.
“The government is emphasising on plantation and the same government is felling the trees. I can’t understand this Jekyll and Hyde nature of the government,” Tapan Bisoi, a student hailing from Ganjam.
Spokesperson of Mahanadi Banchao Andolan, Prasanna Bisoi said they would pin-up posters on the trees earmarked for felling as a step to protect the trees. “The posters read that if these 100/200-year-old trees are felled, it would invite disaster for Bhubaneswar people,” said Bisoi.
