Killing trees should be a serious, punishable offence

The holes on the tree allegedly used to poison the trees; (right) The leafless trees along the Eastern Express Highway. Pics/Rajesh Gupta

The greenery lining the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) is threatened. Building contractors and advertising agencies are clandestinely cutting off or poisoning trees along the highway for better views of their hoardings. A front-page report stated in this paper that over 55 trees have been discreetly killed, and no one has been arrested as yet.

Locals have said that many trees are being cut for a better view of advertisement banners. From illegal hacking to injecting poisonous chemicals into trees, the modus operandi may differ, the aim is the same: get rid of trees for visibility reasons, so that your structures/banners/ads are better viewed.

This is a very serious matter and we must see action when complaints have merit. It is also laughable that government is touting greening. It claims environment and stopping climate change is a prime concern. It touts plantation and, in some cases, transplantation when trees have to be sacrificed for infra. Yet, when these nefarious activities are being conducted or have happened to already, existing trees we see that they seem powerless to stop it. Even punitive action lacks teeth or does not happen at all.

The first is that trees cannot be cut except for exceptional reasons like posing a danger and that too, with all official sanction. Second, the advertisers need to move their billboards or hoardings. The tree important and permanent resident of the space. It cannot be ejected and done away with.

The killing of trees needs to be punished. Stop the abuse and murder of trees now, punitive action will be both a deterrent for the future and send a message of intolerance and a seriousness to protest nature. ‘Green crime' is real and needs to be treated with the gravity it deserves.