Lokayukta court raps civic officials, orders tree killers to be caught within 2 months
- Government agencies in Bengaluru will get two months time to nail the culprits who poisoned trees in Mahadevpura and Marathahalli.
- Tree activists have welcomed the order and said this will make the officers more vigilant.
FollowAfter the repeated incidents of tree poisoning cases coming to light in Bengaluru, the Lokayukta Court issued summons to the BBMP Forest Division, BDA Engineering Department and police to appear before the court on Wednesday and find out who the real culprits are – all in 8 weeks.
The court has summoned, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Appu Rao, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Shantha Kumar, BDA Executive Engineer, Vijay Kumar, BBMP Assistant Commissioner Advertisement Department, Nagaraj, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Whitefield Sub-Division Sudhama Naik and Mahadevpura Inspector, Ramachandra on Wednesday. Lokayukta Justice P Viswanath Shetty, asked these agencies to collectively work and find out the culprits responsible for poisoning trees and mutilating them. Sai Dutta, an RTI activist had filed a complaint before the Lokayukta, a month ago after 17 trees were said to have been poisoned with lead and acid by ad agencies for better display of the hoardings.
"The court has given 8 weeks time for BBMP, BDA and police to find the person responsible tree killing on Mahadevpura and Marathalli. If they fail this will be contempt of court. If such orders are not passed, the officials will take tree cutting and killing lightly," said Dutta.
He also said that, apart from asking these various government bodies to find the killers, the BBMP advertisement department needs to give a detail report about the ad revenue generated from the hoardings and number of flex boards and hoardings present in the zone within the same period.
Urban conservationists and tree doctor Vijay Nishanth who brought this matter to light initially, express happiness over the order and said, if there is no collective activism to save Bengaluru trees, the tree cutting mafia will make Bengaluru suffer.
