Members from various citizen groups and residents from South Bengaluru on Friday participated in a public consultation meeting with the Forest Cell of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike on cutting of trees for metro Phase 2 work starting from Jayanagar Fire Station on Bannerghatta Road to Nagawara Metro Station.
During the meeting held at Jayanagar Fire Station, activists expressed anger against both the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and the Palike for taking up the project without consulting the public.
Activists questioned Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) M K Cholarajappa why no public notification, information and sanction details were provided to the public about the project even though as many as 615 trees are believed to be axed.
Activists demanded that the public be informed about the project and the number of trees to be axed and then to continue the work.
However, DCF Cholarajappa told DH: "We held a public consultation on Friday, and we will provide them with all details of the project from our side. But we cannot provide details about the BMRCL's work. The details on the trees to be cut down will be shared in the next public consultation meet," he said.
Activists had in March met DCF Cholarajappa regarding the cutting down of the trees for the proposed project in which the officer had promised to conduct the tree census along the proposed stretch and share it with activists in public consultation.