College students hold candles in front of chopped trees during a silent protest at the General Post Office (GPO) on Thursday. Tarumitra organised the protest after 25 trees were allegedly chopped to mark the GPO's centenary celebrations. Around a dozen students of St Xavier's College of Management & Technology sang ' Alvida ae doston tere matam ki ghari aayi (goodbye friends, it's time for your end)' at the event. Tarumitra officials said their volunteers and then chief postmaster Anil Kumar had planted the trees in 2001.They said the trees were ignored following a change of guard at the GPO. But senior GPO officials claimed they were conscious about protecting green cover on the campus and that bottle palm trees would be planted in place of the chopped trees. 'High-tension cables encircling the trees caught fire, as a result of which a transformer got burnt,' claimed deputy chief postmaster Arun Jha. Environmentalist and Tarumitra founder Father Robert Athickal said 200-year-old trees were chopped down. ' What we have been told is that trees were chopped off for a better view of the GPO from outside. The initiative is part of a beautification drive launched by GPO to mark its centenary year. 'But the beautification drive could have been carried out without interfering with its greenery,' said Father Robert. Tarumitra co-ordinator Devopriya Dutta said environment and forest department officials had no clue whether or not permission was sought from the department. Text and picture by Shuchismita Chakraborty