Late-night drama: Residents watch on helplessly

BANGALORE: They had anger in theirhearts and candles in their hands, and they may have chased away thetree-cutters up to the Ring Road late on Thursday night. But the 20 activistswere no match for them when they returned after midnight, with policebattalions, electric saws and manpower.They watched helplessly, andsurrounded by policemen, filmed the operation. The first four trees, including ahuge rain tree, were chopped in less than three hours. Friday1.20am. They heard the first branch fall. Minutes later, the jamoon tree locatedin the middle of the stretch came crashing down. The activists split into groupsand rushed to both ends (Bhashyam Circle and Sankey Park) only to findthemselves surrounded by 10 policemen and then by an entire battalion. A policebus blocked their way while the two ends of the road were sealed withbarricades, and the saws buzzed on through the night."We are notpeople against development. We only wanted to verify if tree cutting was beingdone with proper permission. But they refused to hear us. If they hadpermission, why did they not show us the documents?'' asked an angry SiddharthB, 21. Santosh, a film maker from the neighbourhood, was allegedlyroughed up by police when he tried to question the contractors and policemen.Their elected representatives were out of sight.Top cops, including DCP (central division) G Ramesh who came to the spot, did not allow them to stop the work. The few policemen who sympathised with public sentiment could do nothing either. "We are tree lovers too, but are here on duty,'' they said. Emotions ran high among women who tried their best to save the trees. By 3.40pm, the chopped logs were ready to be loaded into trucks and ferried to the BBMP office while the protesters walked back to their homes to get over their disappointment before taking their next step. "Ourprobe revealed that the BBMP gave permission for tree cutting on June 27, butJune 29 was the auction date. Further, there is no clarity on whether they'vegot permission from BWSSB as a lot of their water and sanitary lines run here,''explained Dr Meenakshi Bharath.What hurt them most was that amajority of those protesting had rushed in from outside Malleswaram area whilemany in their immediate neighbourhood stayed indoors fearing police action.