Time to treat the killing of trees as murder

A view of the dying trees from inside the school premises

Accused of poisoning 30-odd trees on its premises to pave the way for a new building, an Andheri school faces a non-cognisable offence (NC) registered by the Versova police following a report submitted by the assistant superintendent of gardens of K/west ward, a report in this paper said.

A non-profit though which had brought the matter to the fore in July, opined that the report omits details of the crime committed and that an FIR should be registered against those guilty. They essentially are pointing fingers about the 'soft' and 'incomplete' offence filed. They are also disappointed that an NC has been filed instead of an FIR. The authorities though say that investigations are on.

The accuser points out that the school has poured concrete in the pilings very close to the tree and roots and destroyed the root system. Indigenous trees are dead. While claims are being investigated, we must ensure that tree felling and killing trees is treated as a serious crime. It is hugely ironical and counterproductive that government organisations and authorities are stressing the go-green mantra and not treating killing trees with the gravitas it deserves.

Broadening our ambit from this one incident, we have seen and heard about trees being surreptitiously killed or removed. There are various pretexts like they have become weak or that they may fall on somebody. While it is important to remove the trees if they are dangerous, we must have an expert certifying this.

We cannot go around touting how many trees have been planted and on the other hand, have a soft approach to trees being killed for reasons best known to the tree murderers. Stringent punishment will be a huge deterrent to what is a heinous crime in our concrete is king city. Let us tree-t (pun intended) this as priority and extremely serious.

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