By CT reporter
MANGALORE : The environmental activists gheraoed and took to task the Deputy Commissioner, the commissioner of MCC and a contractor while the former were making preparations to fell trees on the road side prior to the road widening and concretization work in Valencia on Sunday.
While social activists, Vidya Dinaker, Eric Ozario, Dr. Nanda Kishore and others were urging the Deputy Commissioner to save the century old trees, the contractor Dharmaraj intervened and behaved rudely with the citizens here leading to serious verbal altercations between the former president of Konkani Sahitya Academy Eric Ozario and the contractor. The contractor who by now raised the tempo of his voice was reported to have threatened Eric in the presence of the DC “We will cut the trees at any cost. We know how to deal with you. You will not go unpunished for this”. However Eric far from being intimidated dared the contractor and warned him against touching even a single tree in the area.
The MCC had identified 35 trees in and around Valencia to facilitate the concretization and widening of the Kankanady Nandi Gudde road. This had naturally attracted the wrath of the citizens who had taken the DC to task in his office. When the DC arrived on the spot the public outrage had reached its highest point. Various NGOs and students too supported the cause of the civilians. The DC who found himself at a loss for words when a school girl approached him and begged him to save the trees, assured that an alternative arrangement would be explored to widen the roads without having to fell the trees.

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