The hillocks of Sikharchandi, which acts as one of the green lungs for the ever-expanding city of Bhubaneswar, has been partially denuded for a water supply project for a northern suburb.
Residents of 15 villages in five panchayats have opposed the indiscriminate felling of trees in Sikharchandi, spread over 212.5 acres, claiming the forest and hillocks have religious significance for them.
“We have heard the government wants to leverage the height of Sikharchandi to come up with a water supply project for north Bhubaneswar. We have enough technology and fund for building water supply system in plain land. We need not destroy a natural hill and forest for the project,” Sachin Mohapatra, a resident of Darutheng village, and a lead campaigner against tree felling, said.
