High-drama marks public meet on felling of trees in Padil

Some Mangaluru City Corporation councillors, who barged into a meeting convened by the district administration on Thursday, ensured that the meeting was mired in chaos.

Dakshina Kannada district administration had invited opinions from the public regarding the felling of 666 trees at the site in Padil, which is proposed for the construction of the DC's office complex.

At the meeting which was held in the presence of the Deputy Conservator of Forests, many voiced their protest against cutting of trees at the proposed site.

On the other hand, several others stood by the district administration's stand. As discussions were in progress, around 10 councillors from the ruling party of the MCC, led by Council Chief Whip Shashidhar Hegde and former Mayor Harinath Hegde, appeared at the venue all of a sudden and started shouting slogans supporting the decision of the administration to fell the trees. They maintained that the DC's office complex should be shifted to Padil.

Despite leaders of various organisations, senior citizens and forest department officials making repeated attempts to convince the protesters, they kept on shouting "Beke Beku DC Kutcheri Beku" (we want DC's office). The forest department officials clarified that the meeting pertained exclusively to the issue of felling of trees. However, the MCC members did not pay heed. The situation came under control after police personnel intervened.

During the beginning of the programme, environmentalists Ashok Bhat, Kateel Dinesh Pai, Giridhar Kamath, Dinesh Holla, Rohini, Shashidhar Shetty, Suma Nayak, Dr H M Watson and others submitted their objections in writing and said that the trees should not be felled.