Man poisons tree in Yeshwantpur, other locals team up to save it

BENGALURU: A house owner allegedly poisoned a tree in front of his house at near Triveni Road in Yeshwantpur, leading to it withering. However some other locals joined hands to get rid of the poison and save the tree.

The house owner had allegedly drilled holes at the base of the tree and poisoned it by pouring mercury, on 5th Cross, Triveni Road in Yeshwantpur. Though the tree by the side of the road was not posing any obstruction to his house, the man claimed that he had only put rat poison as there were bandicoots nearby. However, when confronted by locals, he denied any knowledge of the tree being poisoned.

Some locals, who noticed the tree withering due to poisoning, drained the poison with a water jet and applied cow dung at the places where the tree bark had been damaged. Srinivas, a local resident, said, “This tree was planted 14 years ago and is even worshipped. We had planted many trees in the locality. When I confronted the house owner, he denied poisoning the tree. We need to conserve nature and we should ensure that no trees are cut or poisoned in the city”.

Srinivas and Venkatesh, who are local residents.

“Many people only talk about conserving nature, but nobody actually does anything on the ground. This tree is considered holy in Hindu ceremonies. The culprit had poisoned it with mercury and ammonium phosphate. We had complained the Forest Department and a BBMP forest cell official had visited the spot”, said J P Venkatesh, another resident.