ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The city managers, who have already been accused of butchering thousands of trees that came in the way of various development projects, have axed about 100 more trees in a fresh sweep at the recently dualised Ibn-i-Sina Road.

Over 20-year-old and over 50-feet tall Eucalyptus trees were cut one by one by in front of many people who condemned this act of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The authority had already chopped down hundreds of different species of trees on the same road when it was under process of dualisation. It had allegedly cut over 10,000 trees from different locations to widen roads and sometimes in the name of termite attack or weakening of trees that could make people vulnerable to any accident.

Although Eucalyptus was one of the trees which consumed more underground water than other trees of urban areas, it made the environment greener and beautiful due to its all time lush green leaves and height.

A person who was supervising the removal of trees on Sunday told Dawn that he had purchased about 100 trees in an auction amounting to Rs300,000 (one tree costs only Rs3,000). He said the trees were removed on the complaints of people living on the roadside.

However, some of the people living in the area said they had not made any such complaint to the CDA. They were of the view that if these trees were dangerous for the people they should have been reinforced by different ways of reinforcement and strengthening.

When contacted, the CDA’s member environment, Mazhar Hussain, said the removal of trees was done thoughtfully.

He said these trees had completed their life, which according to him was only 20 years, and their branches usually fell during strong winds and rains.

The official said on the report of a director environment, he along with CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari visited the site and gave consent to the removal of trees. “It was faulty planning that trees like Eucalyptus, Paper Mulberry and Poplar were planted in the urban areas of Islamabad,” he added.