Orient Row feels let down by civic move

Kolkata: Greenery along Orient Row will soon be a thing of the past.
In 2006, residents of Orient Row had planted 73 saplings and deployed security guards to save them from premature death. Ten years on, 55 of them that had grown to become mature trees, face the axe by Kolkata Municipal Corporation in its road-widening drive.
Conscious of the 150-odd families living in the quiet neighbourhood near hectic construction-ridden Park Circus, the contractors employed by KMC are not cutting the trees.They are simply breaking the concrete tree guards so that the full-grown trees are upro-oted "naturally".
KMC, which has begun narrowing the 10.5 feet pavement on Park Circus side to 3.5 feet, have thought of this very innovative way of getting rid of the trees along Park Circus Maidan to pre-emt any ‘trouble' from pro-active residents who have in the past cleared garbage themselves and even hired security guards to stop defacing of walls during elections. MMiC Debashis Kumar has promised to plant four saplings for every tree felled. But residents feel betrayed and are crying foul.
"Over the years, Orient Row that connects Darga Road with New Park Street has turned into an unauthorized parking lot for pool cars catering to nearby schools like Don Bosco, Mahadevi Birla, Park Circus Boys and Park Circus Girls'. If they had banned parking, road space for traffic would have increased and it wouldn't have been necessary to hack the pavement and trees," said an angry Ashish Banerjee, a resident of Orient Row.
Fellow resident Anjan Banerjee said, "Park Circus is already one of the most polluted areas in Kolkata and has already gone through rampant tree-felling. By destroying the greenery, KMC is further denigrating the quality of life."
Even as they realize that there's no way they can save the trees, the residents are thinking of getting a stay order from Calcutta high court.
"We would like to record how public interest in reservation and prevention of green cover is being sacrificed," said Banerjee.