Minister allays Longowal residents' fears over felling of trees for stadium

Tribune News Service

Parvesh Sharma

,

Sangrur June 5

Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Monday laid the foundation stone of a stadium in Longowal. There are several fully grown trees at the stadium site. Residents fear that these trees will be axed. They have demanded that the state government should either make arrangements for transplantation of trees or select another location for the construction of the sports stadium, estimated to cost of Rs 3.96 crore.

“The selected site has fully grown trees and we are sure these will be axed for the construction of the stadium. We are not against the construction of the stadium. But the state government should not axe fully grown trees for the construction of the stadium. Before the start of the construction, the authorities should think seriously about the trees,” said Bhupinder Longowal, a leader of Kirti Kisan Union from Longowal.

Some other residents also echoed similar views. “We know that after axing trees, none will care. In Sangrur city, during the Congress tenure, fully grown trees on all roads were axed. Till date, no proper plantation has been done. We fear that the same may happen here also,” said Shaminder Singh, another resident.

However, sources in the Forest Department said they had already started the process to transplant trees. They said a list of such trees had already been sent to the authorities concerned for further action.

Confirming the plan for the transplantation of trees at the stadium site, Arora said an amount of Rs 2.16 lakh had already been released to the Forest Department for the purpose.

“We understand the importance of trees and will not allow any damage to any tree. The required funds have already been released to the Forest Department for the transplantation of trees,” said Arora.

As per the proposal of the state government, the construction of the stadium will be completed within six months. The proposed stadium will have a 400 metre track, basketball, badminton, volleyball and lawn tennis courts, a football ground and other sports facilities.

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