Hey BMC, this is chopping trees, not trimming!

Residents of the Takshila Housing Society in Andheri east are up in arms against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC after the civic body cut big branches of more than 20 trees in the name of trimming them Residents allege that the branches of the trees which are not even dangerous are being cut with the intention to kill themThe secretary of the Bhadra Cooperative Housing Society the apex body for all buildings under Takshila housing complex says the branches have been trimmed as a precautionary measure since the slums are too close to the sixfoot wall of the society and the branches can fall on the slums any time PicsVedant ManeI understand that trees need to be trimmed from time to time but trimming and hacking with intent to destroy are two different things I also feel that due procedure was not followed and instant decisions were taken In the name of trimming huge branches which should have not been cut were also chopped All this has lead to destruction of the banyan trees said Mira Desai a resident of Takshila Housing SocietyA resident even alleged that proper permission and procedures were not followed to do the trimming The nature lovers were allegedly not even shown a proper copy of the permission which they demanded from the person doing the trimming workTakshila Housing Society has 33 buildings and more than 700 trees in its area The buildings have individual housing societies and the apex body of these 33 buildings is known as Bhadra Cooperative Housing SocietyTakshila Housing Society in Andheri eastlsquoPrecautionary measurersquoHowever the secretary of the Bhadra Cooperative Housing Society says this was a collective decision She said The trees are more than 30 years old The illegal slums adjacent to the boundary wall of the building have come up over the last few years The slums are too close to the sixfoot wall of our society The branches of the trees can fall on the slums any time so itrsquos better to do the trimming as a precautionary measureIt is better to trim the branches of a tree however holy it may be so that accidents can be avoided Human life is precious and the trimming was done only after taking permission from the BMC ward office in July last year she addedLetter to BMCThe society members who are against this unscientific trimming of trees will also be writing a letter to the Superintendent of Gardens BMC at the KEast ward office and also the Tree Authority asking them to take serious note of the same According to the residents the work of trimming the trees took place between April 23 and 27Despite our protests over 27 trees have been cut and several hacked to the ground The canopy of two grand banyan trees has been completely destroyed New trees which were not intruding on anyonersquos space were cut alleged another residentThe residents also alleged that since the trimming was done in this season the nests of the birds on some of the trees got destroyed and at few places the eggs of the birds fell down and got destroyedBMC saysAssistant Municipal Commissioner Devendra Kumar Jain of KEast ward said I am not aware about it but I will look into the matter If proper measures were not taken then we will take action against those responsible