nagpur it will be nagpurians very own chipko movement green activists will launch a human chain on saturday in a last ditch effort to save 197 trees from being felled in ambewadi near maharajbagh managed by dr panjabrao deshmukh krishi vidyapeeth pkvschool children students birders local ngos and volunteers will be part of the human chain to be organised at maharajbagh gate at 430 pm on saturday ngos like hirwai environmentalist and bird experts including dr anil pimplapure raju kasambe babarao shende uddham singh dr satish gogulwar prof vijay ghuge and others are supporting the initiativethe volunteers will form a human chain to highlight the ambewadi issue in a peaceful manner we will display posters and banners and distribute pamphlets to highlight importance of trees it will be a chipko movement of sorts the students will also hug the trees in bid to protect them it is sad to note that nmc tree officer is a mute spectator to felling of trees in the city said seema sahu of sugandhsahu has filed a pil in the high court against the college of agriculture for felling 68 small and big trees without permission of garden superintendent and tree officer the court has taken a serious note of itfar from regretting the step pdkv authorities have sought permission to fell 197 more trees in ambewadi these include 115 chichbilai 21 subabul 30 wild ber 10 jungli babul 5 bhokar 10 chillati 3 katesawar and 3 palash earlier 68 trees that were felled included 48 chichbilai 1 jungli babul 18 wild ber and 1 chillatipdkv terms these trees obnoxious and unwanted but petitioner has contested these claims saying the existing trees have huge environmental value and are home to over 100 bird speciesthe high court has directed nmc tree officer to invite public opinion in writing on the fate of 197 trees the trees have already been marked for felling they can be saved only if public opinion goes against pdkv move people should come forward wholeheartedly for the noble cause sahu told toiprof prabha yadavbhogaonkar working on vegetation in melghat amravati has stated that chichbilai trees cannot be called obnoxious as claimed by the pkv even bird expert raju kasambe has certified that there are 116 bird species in maharajbagh and ambewadi a survey in this regard was done during january 2007 to december 2008 besides there are also many butterfly species in the arearecently over 200 trees were transplanted in indian institute of technology iit powai on the issue sahu said transplanted trees do not survive its an expensive affair and moreover in case of ambewadi transplantation is not possible many trees that were transplanted not one survived in the city she stressed