A silent vigil will be held at Dighalipukuri here to “mourn nature’s decline” to mark Environment Day on Thursday.

The proposed “mourning” has been organised by a group of concerned citizens in response to the “indiscriminate” trimming of around 30 trees in the night for translocation from the GNB Road.

“ This Environment Day, we gather not to celebrate, but to mourn. We witness our nature dying: trees felled, ecosystems ravaged, and communities displaced by relentless, unplanned development. This so-called progress is destroying lives, our environment, and our democratic voice,” one of the “mourners” said.

The mourners have urging concerned citizens and mediapersons to join them and demand accountability because the chances of the trees surviving is bleak given they way these were trimmed.

The government had said in court in November last year that no trees
would be felled to construct a flyover following mounting pressure from the public.

A PIL was filed in the Gauhati High court seeking a stay on the administration’s reported move to fell heritage trees, some over hundred years old, in and around Dighalipukhuri for a flyover project as it could be “detrimental to the environment and eco-system as a whole”.

Chief minister Himantas Biswa Sarma had then said there was no plan to cut trees at Dighalipukhuri ever, and now the government will complete the flyover before it reaches Dighalipukhuri, an iconic landmark steeped in history and greenery.

The trimming operation carried out by the state PWD has once again triggered resentment among citizens and nature lovers.