HC stays tree felling at Fountain Park

Krishna Apartments Owners Welfare Association and Dr Sudheer Pai had filed a petition praying the court to restrain felling of trees and construction activity in the Park. The petitioners stated that the Park adjacent to Raj Bhavan measured 17.04 acres and since July 1998, had been subject to a government policy which restricted the construction of any building on the site.

The petitioners alleged that despite the policy, the Agenda For Bengaluru Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) had decided to construct a motivation hall over 1,000 sq mts of area. This hall would be the first National Military Memorial. However, the construction contravenes Section 6 (1) of the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, 1975, which bars any alienation of the park land.

They contended that while the BDA had specified the felling of only 18 trees including 14 eucalyptus trees, the final number of trees marked for felling was 31 and of different varieties. Justices Manjula Chellur and Mohan M Shantanagoudar directed the BDA and the state government to submit a report, identifying the number of trees marked for felling, their age along with photographs, by next Tuesday.
The green activists claim that the rare breed of trees are hard to find. The Indira Gandhi War Memorial was mooted by ex-servicemen in the year 2009 where a foundation stone was laid by the BDA.

The architect in charge of designing the war memorial, till recently claimed that the number of trees to be felled had been brought to 32 from 60 following the discussion with the parties concerned. However, walkers and residents in the vicinity raised objections and brought the plan to a halt. The felled trees were to be auctioned two weeks ago, before the PIL was filed. However, the Horticulture Department raised objections over the auctioning of 18 trees including Eucalyptus and Ashoka trees, which were already felled.
DH News Service