Felling of an Old Tree Sparks Outrage in Manikonda

 Hyderabad: The illegal felling of a 10-year-old tree on road no 7 near the golden temple in Manikonda by a Tirumala Hills resident late Saturday night sparked off an outrage in the area in which over 5,000 families reside. They condemned the incident and demanded action against the person.

They lodged complaints with the Manikonda municipality and the forest department and submitted CCTV footage, which has captured the illegal cutting of the tree, as evidence to substantiate their charges.

Dr P. Avinash, a resident of the colony, explained, “it was around Monday evening we noticed that the tree had been chopped. All residents got together and staged a protest after seeing the CCTV footage. The tree was on public land. The authorities should take action against the culprit so that it can serve as a deterrent.”

K. Kantha Rao, president of Tirumala Hills owners’ welfare association, said “it is unfortunate that when we are working on adding greenery in our surroundings, someone comes up with this atrocious act. We demand stringent action against the culprit.”