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-   -   Jessore Road, WB: Supreme Court orders cutting down of century-old trees to build a highway (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/266043-jessore-road-wb-supreme-court-orders-cutting-down-century-old-trees-build-highway.html)

The purpose of this poll is to spread awareness and garner support.

Scores of Kolkata residents took to the streets in protest against the Supreme Court order approving cutting down of century-old trees on Jessore Road.

Trees On The Jessore Road

Don't let it happen, the "development" will not compensate for this tragedy.

Why not "relocate" the trees?

Sad when supreme court itself takes such a view. We need to do everything to preserve such spaces - development as an excuse just doesn't cut it. Can you ever replace century old trees?

In our town, the highways department made the trees a divider and saved it from being axed. Between Coonoor to Mettupalayam.
Yes, the social organisations played a major role in ensuring that the trees were saved.

These decisions consistently reinforce my belief in the deceptive nature of the "green environment" agenda. Whether at the national or international level, there exists a powerful interest group that boasts about their efforts to combat greenhouse effects. However, such decisions always question the intentions of the people at the top.

What a beautiful sight!

Such a short sighted decision. Hope the residents are able to make a difference.

It's a matter of shame that such a decision was upheld by the highest court on the land. Replantation has been a total failure be it east, west, north or south. The highway authorities commit on paper, even hire huge trailer trucks to relocate such trees to some other location. Also, when the court orders compensatory afforestation the highway authorities immediately agree and submit affidavits in respective courts of law. Replantation and compensatory afforestation are well publicised through the media, even as paid news.

Very soon these replanted trees and compensatory afforestation saplings are left uncared. Soon these perish. Its only after some time has elapsed, someone from the Green Brigade or the media tracks these plantations to find these drying up or already dried up.

Rather than agitating these matters in courts of law, wherever Green Brigades are strong and motivated, they can get such misguided and cruel ambitions of policy makers derailed.

Our people in power are simply stupid, egoistic, greedy and short-sighted with zero common sense. Add to the mix their near limitless powers and a nasty disposition and this kind of idiotic, disastrous, uncaring and draconian rule is what will ensue.

According to the respected environmentalists-

What do not cause global warming?

Cutting trees to construct wide roads.
Making unscientific roads through national forests.
Blasting the already delicate Himalaya to make wide roads.
Changing the course of a river bed to construct a dam.
Constructing buildings and luxury hotels without even looking at the load they are creating on the region.
Burning crops to purify the air!

Then what is the real cause of global warming?

People driving BS4 cars.
People driving 10/15 years old vehicles.
Maruti shooting Jimny ad on a river in Ladakh!
Few irresponsible drivers going off-road in the Himalaya.

Voted No. Old trees keep the ground together much better than new ones, given the clayey soil in that part of the country. If possible they should build the highway from scratch at a new place and leave this road alone.

But am curious which section of Jessore Road is being shown in that pic? I thought it was too crowded and amidst a concrete jungle. Maybe it is after Barasat.

Couldn't have said it better. Our policy makers are a joke and the less said about various environmental tribunals and bodies, the better.

Good point - it is one of the more traumatic and accident-prone 'highways' to drive on currently. I think this section is nearer to the Bangladesh border than towards CCU.

From a tree conservation point of view, a better bet might be to change to a greenfield alignment to save as many as possible, BUT there lies a major issue: land acquisition is known to be a torturous matter in WB, and the adjoining land is not only fertile, but pretty built-up and possibly worth far more than any guidance value.

Would we as farmers sacrifice our ancestral land to save trees? A theoretical dilemma for us armchair pollsters but a very real one I assure you!

Development and nature should coexist. If these trees are taken down authorities should look into the future and instead of making it a four lane highway and 20 yrs down the lane again razzing down the trees grown by then, it should be made into a 6 lane road with land acquired for 8 lane highways and trees should be planted on the sides leaving space for the 8 lanes. This way future developments will not affect the nature and there will be no hinderance for future developments. If this is done, short term effects of taking down these trees are justified. But I don’t think non of the authorities or politician has a long term planing or vision for developments which leads to these kind of situations.

I voted yes,
People will travel as per their needs whether this happens or not. It is better to have efficient roads to drive than constantly accelerate and brake on a narrow road. As @itwasntme mentioned everyone is ready to dismiss this option without coming up with a suitable alternative.

People get emotional and support certain causes, biggest benefactor of reduction in forest cover is the farming community, who slowly but surely grab more and more forest land. The state has to constantly keep vigil to maintain status quo.

Are any of these activists ready to evict farmers who have grabbed forest land in the last 25 years? No, because "annadata" is another emotional hot potato.

This is one important topic to discuss among the motorheads. There is a delicate line between development and exploitation. We cross it more often than not. We all love to reach our destination faster and safer, unaware of the cost we pay to nature. Why can't the authorities maintain a single road in its best shape to make the commute smooth and safe? How many of these so called activist or residents wait behind another vehicle while driving and not cause a traffic havoc by going on the wrong side? How many of us are ready to sacrifice some time in order to protect these trees? There are many more questions to ponder about. Our demand will keep rising. If we keep making the easy decision of cutting the trees, there won't be any more trees left to cut. Its high time we intelligent beings show some respect to nature and come up with a sustainable plan. I hope this forum comes up with some ideas to get there :cool: