Visakhapatnam :

Having lost trust in the intentions and actions of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), environment-conscious citizens and NGOs have decided to maintain a strict daily vigil on the 125-year-old heritage banyan tree at Railway Station Road to prevent it from falling prey to the civic body’s axe.

After the photograph of the tree bearing axe marks was published in TOI on Sunday, irked green lovers not only paid the heritage banyan tree a visit the same day but also spoke to GVMC workers present at the site. Noted environment and heritage activist from the city, Sohan Hatangadi, who is a member of Intach (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) also sent a scathing email in this regard to the GVMC chief on Sunday, which still hasn’t received any response.

Vivek Rathod, an active member of Meecons (Mother Earth Environment Consciousness Society), said, “On Sunday, we visited the tree and the GVMC staff in charge of constructing the wall and drainage said that the drainage construction will take place from another side to prevent any further damage to the tree. However, we will be keeping an eye on their future activities around the tree and will also meet the authorities at the earliest. We have decided to take turns to visit the tree each day and keep a strict watch so that no further harm is done to the tree.”

With the GVMC demolishing the century-old Kurupam market structure overnight, citizens are apprehensive that the heritage tree could also meet the same fate. Already, around 40 full-grown trees on the railway station road have been chopped off recently for road widening much to the chagrin of denizens.

Representatives of environmental NGOs are also planning to meet GVMC authorities to ensure that the heritage tree is not harmed any more. The tree not only bore axe marks but also a branch was chopped off for facilitating drainage in the area despite assurances given by GVMC that it would not touch the tree.

Meanwhile, in his letter to the GVMC commissioner M V Satyanarayana, Sohan wrote, “Now that the railway area has been acquired by GVMC, it has exposed the tree and left it to the mercy of the corporation’s axe. The GVMC has failed miserably in greening our city and now it appears to be taking an active part in destroying what little greenery we have. Your engineers are giving only a speculative, uninformed and unconvincing response when asked how this could happen.”

“We are frequently seeing news reports of old trees being axed during road widening. Some of these old trees are more than 100 years old and are not only of heritage significance, but also nurture thousands of birds and small animals that are a part of our ecosystem. Furthermore, large trees such as these serve as a CO2 sink removing almost 50 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere in a year,” the letter said.

However, till Tuesday, Sohan said he had not received any intimation from the GVMC. “After December 27, we, on behalf of Intach, are planning to meet the GVMC commissioner regarding the tree as well as establishing a heritage conservation committee,” he said.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Cultural Heritage / TNN / December 25th, 2013