Hyderabad: 500 people protest against felling of trees

Hyderabad: About 500 people including local residents, environmentalists and civil society activists formed a human chain near Nallagandla to protect trees.

They were protesting the cutting of a large number of trees along the Nallagandla-Tellapur road. According to the activists, the felling of trees started on November 8 under the supervision of a contractor appointed by roads and buildings department. At the time the R&B department said the trees were being brought down to facilitate road widening.

Later, the protests were streamlined through social media and the activists and residents merged as a collective called ‘Save Nallagandla Trees (SNT)’.  On Nov. 13, SNT volunteers took a physical count and were shocked to realise that as many as 99 trees along the Tellapur road had been axed. The sight of axed trees spread along the road on both sides outraged residents, more of whom joined the collective.