Scores of trees are being felled in Calcutta every month to make way for billboards, according to the West Bengal forest department.

Last week, four full-grown trees — each almost 15 feet tall — were felled on Central Avenue in front of Medical College and Hospital, allegedly by Group-D staffers of the hospital. The trees were cut to make some illegally erected billboards on the premises more visible.

In May, residents of Green Valley, a residential complex on Tangra Road, lodged a complaint with the forest department that local goons were felling trees to make way for billboards.

“They axed eight trees at night. Within days, billboards came up where the trees used to stand. This is the handiwork of local goons,” said Rajan Hatiramani, a resident of the complex.

The forest department — the green guardians of the city — has been flooded with similar complaints from various localities.

“The number of complaints are more from areas like central Calcutta, EM Bypass and VIP Road, where billboards fetch a huge revenue,” said an official.

On Central Avenue, between Girish Park Road and Esplanade, a billboard fetches anything between Rs 25,000 to 75,000 a month, depending on its size and location.

“In the past two months, more than 25 trees have been cut down between Medical College and Hospital and Ganesh Chandra Avenue,” said Jahangir Molla, treasurer of Janaswastha Committee. The NGO has been working for the green cause in Calcutta since 1992.

“To protest against the billboards on the Medical College campus, we smeared them with black paint, but they were coated with white again,” Molla added.