18 February,2009 07:49 AM IST | | Alisha Coelho
Home was cut down, she asked her mother if they were going to die because the oxygen was over. "My daughter is five, but in pre-primary school they were taught about trees and how they help us," said Arya's mother Minal, a resident of Napean Sea Road. "That tree has been around ever since I moved here 15 years ago and now it's gone. My daughter's questions aren't easy to answer."
Stories like Vazirani's were echoed amongst the group of residents from the area who banded together yesterday to oppose the felling of trees by the BMC to widen the road. Eighty trees over 70-100 years old will be felled for widening the road.
Over a hundred protestors hugged many trees and tied green ribbons around the trunk to symbolise their dissent. "We planted a baadam tree more than 30 years ago.
When a cyclone knocked it over 10 years back, we took the pains to replant it. Our reasons to save the trees are not only because they are beautiful, but also because they're useful," said Vandana Lulla, a resident of Ashutosh Building.
The residents say they aren't against widening the street. "We know that the traffic is unbearable, but there has to be another alternative. The BMC says that they want to transplant trees, but you can't do that with a 70-year-old banyan tree," said Bittu Sehgal, an environmentalist.u00a0u00a0
