Cuttack: A 40-ft-tall tree, positioned dangerously in a dense locality in Odisha’s Cuttack, poses a threat to people living in the area and needs to be felled before disaster strikes. But even the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Services are reluctant to undertake the risky task.
As the tree needs to be removed urgently, the Orissa High Court has directed the agencies along with the civic body and district administration to come up with an action plan.
Guru Prasad Mohanty, a senior lawyer from Haripur, had approached the HC for removal of the more than 50-year-old Chakunda tree, TNIE reported. The court had taken up Mohanty’s plea on March 31.
“There is a risk to the fire services personnel if they are made to climb a height of 40 feet to cut the tree carrying a power saw cutter,” Assistant Fire Officer stated. The Commandant of the Orissa Special Armed Police (OSAP) too offered a similar response with regard to the use of ODRAF personnel and equipment, the TNIE report said.
A division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik said, “The photographs of the tree as enclosed with the petition does reveal that there is a real and imminent danger posed by the tree to the electric cables and thereby, of passers-by, apart from the people living in the locality. Some action plan will therefore have to be worked out for its removal.”
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