Felling Of Over 100 Trees For Road Works Sparks Resentment In Odisha’s Gajapati

Berhampur: Felling of more than 100 fully-grown and old trees of different species for widening of roads in Odisha’s Gajapati district has sparked off resentment among locals and green lovers.

The Public Works Department (PWD) has cut down over 105 trees along a stretch of 3 km of the State Highway from Khajuripada panchayat office to Dogharia village of Nuagada block in the district. The trees of different species including banyan, teak, mango, jackfruit and others were cut down for widening of roads and construction of drains.

Expressing shock over the action of the PWD, the locals said the huge loss was irreversible. “The trees that were felled were 30 to 100 years old. Some of the tree were massive in size. Those not only provided shade to pedestrians, mostly students, but also sheltered a lot of birds and reptiles. Recouping the losses is a near impossible task,” they said.

They further said banyan tree is associated with religious and cultural sentiments of the people. “While the species is fast vanishing for lack of space and rapid spread of urbanisation, felling of old trees is unfortunate,” they said adding that the PWD should have looked for alternatives instead of simply sawing the trees.

However, the PWD staff said those trees were identified earlier for cutting on the road construction map. There was no alternative to cutting those down in order to carry out drain construction works on the roadside, they added.

As per Forest Conservation Act, 1980, for every tree cut on non-forest land for developmental project, two trees have to be planted while the same for forest land is 10.