Nature lovers and concerned citizens of Dehradun have strongly objected to the authorities, reportedly considering a proposal to axe healthy green trees along the Rajpur Road to facilitate road widening. However, the Forest Department has stated that no such proposal has been received in its Dehradun division so far.
The chief coordinator of Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) Dr Nitin Pandey said that he had learnt from departmental sources that a proposal for axing trees from Dilaram Bazaar to Rajpur was being considered by the authorities for facilitating the widening of this road.
He said, “We strongly object to such a proposal being considered by the authorities. There is very little traffic on the road to Rajpur beyond the Mussoorie diversion. Instead of axing healthy green trees, the authorities should first remove encroachments hampering smooth traffic flow and streamline the traffic. We plan to protest against any such move which would involve the axing of at least 100 green trees along Rajpur Road,” he stressed. It should be mentioned here that this information is also being shared on the social media by concerned citizens with majority of the people responding with strong objections to any chopping of the trees along Rajpur Road for widening the road. It is also being pointed out that the trees along Rajpur Road sustain a range of animals and birds apart from providing shelter to road users.
However, when contacted by The Pioneer, the Dehradun divisional officer PK Patro said that no such proposal had reached the department so far. The Dehradun sub divisional officer Gulveer Singh said that recently after a joint inspection only a few trees-less than half a dozen- were marked for the axe as they were found to be either dangerous or coming in the way of a free left turn or road widening. The SDO informed, “To my knowledge there is no proposal with the department for axing all trees along the Rajpur Road for road widening.”