Students associated with environmental organisation Tarumitra stage a protest against the alleged proposal of the authorities to cut down hundreds of trees at the Patna zoo, in front of Mount Carmel High School in Patna on Friday. Around 200 students formed a human chain and were made to stand for around an hour in the blazing sun. Tarumitra, Patna, chief co-ordinator Father Robert Athickal said: “According to recent media reports, the authorities are planning to cut down trees inside Patna zoo. We are protesting against the plan.” But the authorities claimed that the children had been misled. “We are not going to cut any trees. We have a plan to prune several trees. No decision has been taken on this yet. We have just demarcated the area. The number of trees to be pruned has not been decided yet,” said Dipak Kumar Singh, secretary, environment and forests department. Text by Piyush Kumar Tripathi, picture by Jai Prakash