The evironmentalists have saved eight major trees from being felled in the campus after a careful assessment of the area and the building project.
The panel constituted under the leadership of Maj Gen (Retd) S G Vombatkere visited the UoM campus to assess how many number of trees could be saved from being felled for the building project.
The members suggested slight modifications in the engineering plan for the proposed buildings to save about eight big trees comprising mango, jackfruit and jamun trees. These trees are in the area where the varsity has proposes a building for the work on biodiversity project, sanctioned under the ` 100 crore grant for the centre of excellene by the central government.
The panel members had asked the university authorities to mark the building plan in the ground.
134 trees identified
During their visit, the panel allowed felling of 134 small acacia trees in the space where the university proposes to build a hostel building.
“There was no scope for retaining the the trees,” M Lakshmana, member of the panel said.
While, the panel could save about eight trees and allow felling of 30 trees in another building adjacent to the proposed hostel building land. “The panel also took commitment from the University to plant thousand saplings in the university campus in the coming years to compensate the felling of trees for the project. We will also keep track of the saplings planted,” he said.
The panel members also included Prof A Ramalingam, social activist Vasanth Kumar Mysoremath. University officials from engineering and horticulture department accompanied the committee.