Environment unfriendly: Trees being cut despite the protests of social activists
Trees lining the road to Park Towers chopped down.
DMC was asked to cut one branch but these officials chopped down the entire tree. PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The huge trees lining the main road that leads to Park Towers from Do Talwar were chopped down, illegally, by the employees of the District Municipal Corportation (DMC) South on Sunday.
The tree, located near a traffic police picket, was cut down in broad daylight and the authorities have no logical explanation for it. A DMC employee on the spot blamed the traffic police. He said that the traffic police told them to cut the tree down and that they were just following orders.
For his part, South zone traffic police superintendent Tanweer Odho stated that while the police did ask the DMC to cut down a single branch, no request was made to cut down the whole tree. The single branch in question had been causing problems to the flow of traffic, claimed Odho.
The move has, nevertheless, upset residents. A member of Shehri-Citizens for Better Environment, Khatib Ahmed, called for strict action against corruption, stating that such incidents will continue to take place unless the perpetrators are punished. "The civil societies, NGOs and especially the media should join hands to stop this, otherwise they will continue to do this to fill their own pockets."
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2013.
The huge trees lining the main road that leads to Park Towers from Do Talwar were chopped down, illegally, by the employees of the District Municipal Corportation (DMC) South on Sunday.
The tree, located near a traffic police picket, was cut down in broad daylight and the authorities have no logical explanation for it. A DMC employee on the spot blamed the traffic police. He said that the traffic police told them to cut the tree down and that they were just following orders.
For his part, South zone traffic police superintendent Tanweer Odho stated that while the police did ask the DMC to cut down a single branch, no request was made to cut down the whole tree. The single branch in question had been causing problems to the flow of traffic, claimed Odho.
The move has, nevertheless, upset residents. A member of Shehri-Citizens for Better Environment, Khatib Ahmed, called for strict action against corruption, stating that such incidents will continue to take place unless the perpetrators are punished. "The civil societies, NGOs and especially the media should join hands to stop this, otherwise they will continue to do this to fill their own pockets."
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2013.