Tree causing danger to human felled in city

A Correspondent

Shillong, June 23: A tree in the middle of Shillong city on Saturday afternoon was felled by the authorities after it was found that it was causing danger to human lives and properties.

It was on Saturday morning after passers-by saw the branch of a tree near the State Bank of India Main Branch hanging precariously that they alerted authorities.

“We were alerted by passers-by after a branch broke and was hanging dangerously. Taking no chances we reached the area immediately and decided to cut it down,” an official of the forest department said.

The state’s forest department taking no chances decided to cut down the around 100 year old tree.

The felling of a tree by the state’s Forest department in the heart of Shillong city hit the flow of traffic in the busy Police Bazar area.

Usually the flow of traffic into the busy Police Bazar area on Saturday is heavy but traffic was diverted to prevent any untoward incident.

The Shillong Traffic Police, diverted traffic coming from Laitumkhrah, Dhanketi and other areas and going to Police Bazar and Motphran towards Keatinge Road.

The flow of traffic was affected for more than four hours and was restored at around 5:30 pm.

It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya High Court has recently issued interim order to allow the Department of Forest and Environment to cut down trees within the city that could endanger human lives and property.

This order was keeping in mind the tragedy of August 2017 when a massive decaying tree at Raj Bhawan collapsed and killed three people.

These include the dead trees, decaying trees and those which are leaning hazardously and dangerously.