nagpur felling of three trees in south east central railway secr quarter on mount road has greens fuming one pipal tree could be saved on sunday after the contractor was caught chopping branches in the same quarter toi received a call on sunday afternoon that eight labourers were chopping a huge pipal tree on reaching the spot it was found that this was the fourth tree being felled three trees two over 60yearold neem trees and one lemon tree had been cut in the past two days the tree felling took place in quarter number 1282 of secrs mount road colony contractors mm hussain and lokesh kamble claimed they were regulars and felled trees that caused obstruction in secr and central railway premises the trees felled were not a hurdle we were summoned by the secr official to cut the trees both said but they did not reveal the name of the official hussain admitted that no permission was taken from nagpur municipal corporation nmc tree officer for the purpose under maharashtra urban areas preservation of trees act 1975 prior permission has to be taken from nmc before cutting trees and even branches every act of chopping at different point of time whether it is the same tree or different trees constitutes a separate offence the penalty includes a minimum fine of rs 1000 and maximum of rs 5000 with imprisonment from a week to a year the trees were cut as senior divisional personnel officer srdpo of secr was to occupy the quarter lying vacant for the past one year after being countered by tree inspector amol chorpagar who too reached the spot the labourers and contractors fled naturalist seema sahu expressed anguish it is one of the best green areas with huge trees the place is home to many bird species including indian flying foxes bats she added sahu later lodged a complaint with sadar police station psi samratsingh rajput said he would forward the complaint to the nmc garden superintendent meanwhile after the contractors tipped secr inspector of works iow ar varun about the action he rushed to the spot but gave evasive replies varun admitted to have committed a mistake by not taking permission to fell trees but denied granting permission to the labourers to fell the trees