Kolkata greenery falls prey to careless hacking before Puja

KOLKATA: An unholy nexus of shop owners, Puja organisers, cable operators, outdoor advertising agencies has wreaked havoc with the greenery in south Kolkata. For the past couple of weeks, at least 70 trees have been chopped off in the name of pruning. The extent of chopping, horticulturists said, may end up killing many trees.

“Suddenly, my neighbourhood has turned grey. I was shocked to see labourers chopping off trees indiscriminately. Ours was one of the greener areas in the city. But the way trees are being hacked, there will soon be very few trees left on the road,” said Lake Road resident Amit Roy, who has recorded the extent of devastation on his camera and approached the local councillors with the evidence.

Moreover, monsoon is not a good time for pruning. “Winter is the time when sap loss is the least and the risk of fungus or insect infestation is minimum. But in Kolkata, trees are pruned during the monsoon, which leads to a lot of trees dying,” said Amiya Santra, a senior horticulturist.

“We found that shop owners and Puja organisers often play a key role in forcing councillors to undertake this pruning drive so they don’t have any problem displaying billboards. Advertisements these days constitute 70% of Puja revenue for an organiser. Shop owners often find trees covering their glow signs. Even cable operators find trees to be a hazard,” said environment activist

Somendra Mohan Ghosh

.

However, this is not specific to south Kolkata. Trees have been chopped off with equal gusto in central and north Kolkata too. Rampant chopping is accelerating their death.. Chopping also shifts a tree’s centre of gravity, making it prone to uprooting.

“We want Puja organisers to protect trees instead of chopping them off,” said Sumita Banerjee, an environment crusader and member of

Lake Environment Monitoring Committee

appointed by Calcutta HC.

Local councillor Subrata Ghosh, however, denied that trees had been chopped under his supervision. “Being an opposition party (BJP) councillor, I have a little to do with either protection or destruction of greenery. There are influential persons who do all this and put the blame on me.”

Member, mayor-in-council (parks and gardens)

Debasish Kumar

said, “Ïf we receive a formal complaint, we will investigate it. Pruning is pruning. If someone hacks in place of pruning, it is not done.”