New DC office complex set to cut 660 plus trees

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jan 03, 2018: Forest department will give a  hearing to public on Jan 4, Thursday regarding its proposal to fell more than 660 trees in the city for construction of a new DC office complex at Alake village in Padil.

The proposed DC office complex is coming up on a six acre plot. While a petition against felling trees is pending before the National Green Tribunal, an application seeking permission to cut the trees has come to the forest department. Public hearing is necessary for projects that require felling of more than 50 trees as per the orders of the Karnataka High Court and Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.

Accordingly, the forest department has called for a public hearing to seek opinion of the general public to know whether they are against or in support of felling 666 trees in the land where a new DC office complex is planned, a forest department official stated.


Meanwhile, activists and greens in Mangaluru are all set to fight the move by opposing it during the public hearing. National Environment Care Federation (NECF) state secretary Shashidhar Shetty said a social media campaign has already been commenced to motivate more people to come forward and file their objection.


NECF executive member Ashok Bhat congratulated the forest department for holding a public hearing for the first time. "However, they should have given sufficient time for us to prepare for public hearing," Bhat said.