Friday, 21 June 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Following the mercury in Dehradun surging up to 43 degrees Celsius this year, the residents of Doon seem to have become aware of the importance of planting and maintaining trees. The new -found awareness for environmental preservation through protection of trees among the previously indifferent common people became discernible when they reached Khalanga where the water treatment plant (WTP) was to come up at the expense of about 2000 trees. Seeing the people determined to save the trees poised to be felled, the authority had to retreat, leading to the postponement of the project.
Further, the local residents appealed to the State government to refrain from cutting trees along the stretch from Dilaram Chowk to Centrio Mall to widen Cantt Road. They told this correspondent that under no circumstances would they allow the executing agency to fell trees in the name of the city’s development. “The insufferable heat we have been reeling under for days is being attributed to such reckless tree-felling operations. We will not brook this any longer,” said a local Vaishnavi Dhamir. She lamented that the greenery in Dehradun had been vanishing fast due to the city’s development in recent years.
Another local resident Mahindra Singh sounded deeply worried over trees being rampantly felled in the name of development. “What kind of development is this? If this is what development is, we are rejecting it outright. We do not want development at the expense of trees. The depleting greenery in the city is contributing to the dreadfully surging mercury. Enough is enough; we will not allow even a single tree to be felled for development,” he added.
Asked to comment on this matter, a senior member of Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) Ira Chauhan said that they have been raising awareness among the city’s residents for years, urging them to come up to resist tree felling.
