Environmentalists for dechoking of trees on ‘London Street’
   Date :17-Feb-2021

London Street or Orange C
 The trees along London Street or Orange City Street, have been choked at their base with cement. (File photo)
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Garden Superintendent of NMC shows callous attitude on this matter and passed the buck to Public Works Department of NMC 
 
City environmentalists have come forward to save the trees that are choked with cement along the ‘London Street’ on Tuesday. The Hitavada on Monday published a news report with a headline “‘London Street’ taking shape, but trees becoming silent casualty” on front page of the CityLine. Taking the reference of that news article, Green Vigil Foundation, a city-based NGO working in the field of environment along with Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), on Tuesday, raised strong objection against the careless attitude of the contractor while constructing roads and footpaths and urged Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to dechoke the trees and also take stern action against the contractor.
 
The NGO wrote letter to Garden Superintendent of NMC and raised their concern on the issue. “We are raising the issue of choking of trees due to cement road construction since 2015. We also conducted a survey and found that more than 10,000 trees were choked across Nagpur city due to cement and tar road construction,” said Kaustav Chatterjee, Founder, Green Vigil Foundation to The Hitavada. “We had series of meetings and discussions on the subject with the then Municipal Commissioner Abhihjit Bangar. Taking cognizance on this issue, Bangar then ordered for dechoking of 9,200 trees all around the city,” said Chatterjee.
 
The NGO in their letter stated that the contractors constructing roads and footpaths were not really concerned about choking of trees and were not following guidelines laid down by NMC. “NMC must issue order to the contractor to dechoke the trees without any extra charge and also fine them for such careless act in the name of development,” said Chatterjee. However, when The Hitavada approached NMC’s Garden Superintendent Amol Chourpagar about the demand by the NGO, he clearly denied any information about the letter issued by the NGO to him. He also shrugged off his responsibility on this matter and rolled the ball in the NMC public works department’s court. This type of callous attitude by the garden superintendent for the conservation of city environment is really questionable.