The stump of one of the three trees that were felled. (Kundan Yolmo)

Siliguri, June 30: Two supervisors of an under construction commercial complex were arrested by foresters today for cutting down three trees on Sevoke Road. The Siliguri Municipal Corporation had planted the trees as part its beautification project three years ago.

“Rakesh Kumar and Ashok Sharma were arrested for chopping down sishu, jarul and radhachura trees in an overnight operation without obtaining permission from the forest department. The duo had violated the West Bengal Trees (Protection and Conservation in Non-Forest Areas) Act 2007,” said Sailesh Anand, the divisional forest officer of Baikunthapur.

The under construction complex is in Ward 41 along Sevoke Road. Ujjal Sarkar, the secretary of the ward committee, said Subrata Saha of Prakashnagar was the first to notice that the three trees had been cut while he was out for his morning walk.

“After Saha reported this to us, we rushed to the spot and found that the trees were dumped inside the complex. We informed the officials of the Baikunthapur forest division,” said Sarkar.

Anil Agarwal, the owner of the complex, said it was a mistake committed by his employees. “It is very unfortunate that they have committed the wrong. What I can do now is to plant more saplings in the area and take care of them,” he said.