Branches of 20 to 30-year-old trees were brutally chopped off to make billboards more visible near Girgaon chowpatty and Mahalaxmi
A chopped tree at Chagan Mitha petrol pump at Mahalaxmi to nake the billboard visible and (below) hacked off branches of a tree kept at Bandstand signal in Girgaon chowpatty. Pics/Ashish Raje
Three instances of trees being chopped in a single night for a better view of billboards have been reported from South Mumbai. FIRs have been registered against unknown people. According to the complaints submitted to the police, the men who chopped the trees were dressed like BMC workers. Police are yet to make an arrest.
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The first incident was reported at Malabar Hill where 10-15 branches of a 20 to 25-year-old Gulmohar tree were chopped by five to six people. Men wearing reflective jackets, similar to those worn by BMC employees, entered Jindal House at Walkeshwar Road around 7 am on February 3. BMC officials visited the site and confirmed that branches obstructing the billboard at a distance of just 50 metres had been chopped.
“As per the complaint given by BMC officials at D ward, we have registered an FIR against unknown people under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 170 (personating a public servant), 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent) and relevant sections of Maharashtra (urban areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975,” said Suryakant Bangar, senior inspector of Malabar Hill police station.
Two other incidents were reported at Gamdevi police station, wherein two banyan trees and a fig tree at Chagan Mitha Petrol pump near Mahalaxmi Mandir were chopped. In the other incident, a banyan tree was cut to half at Tambe Chowk, popularly known as Bandstand. Both locations have heavy vehicular movement, including that of VIPs. “These trees, too, were chopped on the night of February 3. Here, too, the men were wearing a uniform similar to the BMC’s. This act had benefitted five billboards nearby,” a BMC officer said.
Bipin Gupta, a watchman at Chagan Mitha petrol pump said, “When I asked the men why they came so late, they said they have been given orders to do the chopping in emergency.”
A police constable posted at Bandstand chowky said on condition of anonymity, “I have been attached to Malabar Hill police station for five years and regularly see this tree. It is surprising that nobody, including the cops on duty, verified the identity of the men. It may be a matter of investigation in case the imposters have fake ID cards.”
Milind Narode, junior tree officer at D ward said, “All the chopped trees were over 20 to 30 years old. It is surprising that nobody suspected the motives of these people when they were chopping the trees at odd hours. We immediately registered FIRs in the cases.”
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