There were some moments of commotion at the Vaccine Depot in Belagavi on Wednesday when some concerned citizens objected to an attempt by forest officers to cut down trees on the border of the green patch.
Some residents saw that some forest personnel were cutting branches of some trees at the depot.
They informed advocates and members of the morning walkers association Kiran Kulkarni and Satish Biradar, among others, who objected to the attempt by the personnel. They showed them copies of the Supreme Court and High Court orders that prohibit tree cutting in the depot.
The officers, however, argued that they were here not to cut down the trees but to prune them. He said that the traffic police had given them letters to cut down branches of trees that were hanging over the road next to the depot.
Ramakant Konduskar, founder of Sri Ram Sena Hindustan, who reached the spot, told journalists that the personnel had not just pruned the trees but also cut them down to their stems.
