Smart City officials ‘trans locate’ Panjim’s lungs by ‘butchering’ 200-yr-old tree

PANJIM: In spite of  environmentalists staging a protest to protect Panjim’s green cover, the Smart City authorities on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday butchered a 200-year-old banyan tree at St Inez for translocating it to another place.

On Saturday, the green activists yet again registered thaeir protest and termed the act of the government authorities as butchering in the name of Smart City work on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

The activists said that they will file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court of Bombay at Goa with a request to bring those officials responsible for cutting the tree to task.

Speaking to reporters, Avertino Miranda, founder of Goa Green Brigade, said, “Even after we protested, with the help of police force the tree was felled last night. Now it is being translocated. But it is not translocated. The roots have been damaged. If the roots are damaged, how will the tree survive? It is not easy. We tried but could not succeed. There is a system for that. For us it took five days to take the tree out. But in this case, it has been cut overnight. It is complete butchering of the tree. This banyan tree has been butchered in the name of translocation. This is not translocation, but the death of the tree, which was ‘murdered’ last night.”

 “It is one of the saddest days for us. We wanted to protect the 200-year-old tree which was killed overnight by the so-called Smart City officials who are out to cut and systematically damage all the trees in the city,” Miranda said.

 “They want to make Panjim a desert. They say that they want to make Panjim like Singapore but Singapore too has trees. People across the world love trees but in Goa we hate them. Government’s policy is to knock off all the trees and concretise the city,” Miranda said.

 “We will file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against this injustice on April 8 so that the officials responsible for the mess are taken to task. This is a crime and the Smart City officials are answerable for this,” he added.

Anil Lad, a journalist, said, “Everything here is illegal. It was not re-location of the tree but butchering. The order said that the tree was to be relocated but the tree was cut. The question is what was the emergency that the tree was cut in the middle of the night? It is very sad that none of the political leaders visited the spot to see whether it is really coming in the way of the Smart City work.”’

Historian and heritage activist Prajal Sakhardande said, “The authority which has issued the order will have to pay back for whatever they have done. The process of translocation will not succeed as the tree will not survive. Another tree is to be cut. This is the state of Panjim. All over Goa the trees are being cut and there is no accountability. The authorities are going ahead and doing what they feel is right. The whole of Panjim is destroyed. The situation is going to be worse. Everywhere roads are dug and it is very difficult to drive. I strongly condemn it.”

On Friday, people of the capital city took to the streets to protect one of its senior ‘citizens’, the tree and its other siblings that are, according to the Smart City team, ‘impediments to the project’s advancement’.

However, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) in a statement had said that it had secured all necessary permissions for the endeavour, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

 “The Forest Department has granted authorisation for the removal of a rain tree and the translocation of a banyan tree, both deemed impediments to the project’s advancement. Supervised by the Range Forest Officer (RFO) of Panjim and other officials, the translocation process of the banyan tree is expected to be completed by April 15,” reads a statement from IPSCDL.