Felling of trees: Panel to visit UoM tomorrow

Public hearing convened at Crawford Hall to seek opinion

At a public hearing convened at the Crawford hall to seek the opinion of the public members and experts on felling of more than 164 trees, the meeting decided to form a committee.

The committee members would visit the university campus on Monday and assess how the Varsity can go ahead with the ` 100 crore project work by axing minimum number of trees.

The committee comprises Maj Gen (Retd) S G Vombatkere, Vijay Kumar, M Lakshmana of the Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore (ACICM) Prof A Ramalingam, Shivaram, K Manu, Balakrishna, Nalabeedi Ravi, Sadananda and representatives of UoM and the forest department.

M Lakashmana told Deccan Herald that the committee has sought the university the site plan for the construction of the buildings.

The panel members would visit the UoM campus on Monday and make recommendations on going ahead with the project by axing minimum number of trees. It may be mentioned here that there was a public outcry when the university authorities began felling of trees on April 22.

Though, the forest department had allowed the felling, it revoked its decision on April 25 following protest by citizens.