Tree stumps a traffic hazard on Bagli road

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 27

The felled trees on the Bagli road connecting Dharamsala with Kangra have become a major traffic hazard.

While the Forest Corporation has felled over 100-decade old mango and banyan trees along the Bagli road, it has left stumps that are a hazard for vehicles plying during night on the road.

Since trees were cut for minor widening of the road and their nearly 1 to 2 feet stumps are above the ground and not visible during the night.

The PWD authorities have whitewashed some stumps. However, environmentalists are questioning the logic behind cutting the decades-old trees for minor widening of road.

Ram Singh, an environmentalist, said the Forest Corporation was not taking out stumps from the road. Widening of the road could not be carried out till the stumps were carved out of the ground, he said.

It would require heavy machinery such as JCBs to carve out the stumps of decades-old trees. Since the stumps were of very old trees, their roots might have spread in an area of 7 to 8 feet.

In some cases, the stumps of cut trees are located very close to buildings.

The corporation might not be in a position to take out these stumps as it might damage private buildings.

The marking of such trees for felling was lack of the application of mind on the part of forest officials. If the corporation or the PWD did not had the plan to take out stumps, what was the logic in felling the decades-old fruit trees, he asked.

A number of environmentalists and schoolchildren had launched a protest after the corporation started felling trees on the Bagli road.

They carried out rallies and submitted a memorandum to the CM who was on a visit to Dharamsala.

The CM immediately ordered the Forest Corporation to stop the felling and asked them to look for options to translocate these trees if required for the widening of the road.

Following the CM’s directive, the felling of trees was stopped for some time. However, the Corporation once again started felling trees and now almost all marked trees have been felled.

The Corporation had also felled a banyan tree along the road. The Cabinet had in the recent past completely banned the felling of banyan and peepal trees in the state.

Sources said no land acquisition had been carried out by the PWD to widen the Bagli road after felling such valuable fruit trees.

The environmentalists questioned the logic of felling decades-old fruit trees that were rare these days for minor widening of road.