The Times of India       25.11.2010

KMC clueless as tree-poisoning takes a deadly turn in city

KOLKATA: From each one, grow one', the slogan in city sadly appears to be each one, poison one'. Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) parks department has been stumped by a disturbing trend of doing away with green cover from prime properties healthy trees are maliciously being poisoned and left to die.

The most recent victims are three 15-year-old, full-grown Sirishes at Ballygunge. The trees, standing guard in front of a well-known food court on Asutosh Chowdhury Avenue, were allegedly poisoned more than a fortnight ago. Their green leaves have dried up and fallen. Their trunk colour has changed to black. Unable to withstand the toxicity, the trees now show all signs of an imminent death.

Though a section of local traders claimed to have seen poison being injected into these, nobody wanted to go on record. But Indranath De, an advocate who stays at Ballygunge Park, has emerged as the new green crusader, calling the act a "murder of trees", while criticizing the role of KMC and the lack of vigilance by authorities.

"It seems to be a case of slow-poisoning. What were KMC officials doing? " De said. Parks department chief engineer, Debasis Chakraborty, sent a KMC employee on Monday to check out the trees after TOI sought to know about their fate. "We are waiting for a detailed report on the killing of the trees. It will be examined whether they have been poisoned," said Chakraborty.

The official who visited the spot said the trees were dead. "There is no scope of their revival," the employee sent to the spot reported.

Debasish Kumar, MMiC (parks), asked Chakraborty to serve a notice on the owner of the food court opposite the trees. "This is a serious offence. I have asked my department officials to investigate. If we need to act harsh on somebody for killing the trees, we will do it without any hesitation," Kumar said. "KMC will compensate for the loss of greenery. Our horticulturists will be sent to the spot to probe the case and suggest what kind of trees can be planted at the site."

This is not the first time that trees in city have been poisoned. A senior civic official said that a similar case was registered with parks department against the owner of the same food court, almost six months ago, for killing a full-grown tree. "Our efforts went in vain as we could not establish the guilt," the official added.