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The top of a large tree on Rashbehari connector, near Kasba police station, was chopped off on November 16, allegedly to ensure an unobstructed view of a billboard. The forest department lodged an FIR with Kasba police station but no action has been taken yet.
Ten trees blocking billboards on Prince Anwar Shah Road were cut before Puja. The forest department filed a complaint at Lake police station. Another tree on the same stretch was cut after Puja. Another FIR was lodged.
About 40 trees were chopped off in a park in Salt Lake’s GD block, allegedly on the instruction of the local councillor. The forest department lodged an FIR with Bidhannagar (south) police station. It referred the matter back to the municipality.
The chief minister may have promised steps against those who recently felled trees at Indian Botanic Garden but such violations are the rule rather than an exception in the city with police — directly under the chief minister’s control — remaining spectators.
In the past year, the forest department, which alone can grant permission to fell trees, has lodged at least 27 complaints with police stations in and around the city. Only two of the complaints were “properly followed up” by the police, that too because senior officers were involved, said a forest department official.
In the other cases, the police are either “carrying out an inquiry”, like in the Kasba case, or have arrested only labourers, as they did for the Anwar Shah Road tree felling.
“We received regular complaints about trees being cut without permission from our office and lodge FIRs with the police,” stated Majheder Rahman, the divisional forest officer (utilisation). Mayoral council member (parks and gardens) Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, too, said the civic body was receiving numerous tree-felling complaints.
Surajit Kar Purkayastha, the inspector general (south Bengal), said: “The act to protect trees in non-forest areas is fairly recent (2006). The police have become aware of environmental matters but there is scope for improvement. I will look into the tree felling complaints.”
Green activists want to see the words translated into action. “Provisions for stringent punishment for those who fell trees without permission are fine on paper but people will take them seriously only when the police start catching the culprits,” said Subhas Dutta.
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