Tree-trimming for Indore road widening sends egret nests crashing down

Indore: A routine civic work as part of a road-widening project in Indore’s Nipania drew severe backlash from locals, after the trimming of a giant tamarind tree for laying overhead power lines destroyed dozens of egret nests, along with the numerous eggs they held, while also bringing several chicks crashing to the ground.It was alleged that about 50 chicks were injured after falling out of their nests resting on leafy tamarind branches.As the nests collapsed, parent egrets flew out and circled the sky, screaming in distress as they couldn’t reach their suffering chicks crawling helplessly on the road to avoid traffic and a gathering crowd of onlookers.Several passersby erupted in anger, watching the chicks flapping their flightless wings and running around aimlessly in a desperate bid to keep themselves from coming under the wheels of onrushing vehicles.Angered by what they claimed to be the contractor’s negligence in ensuring the safe-keeping of the fowls and their chicks amid the ongoing work, locals and passersby stepped up to launch a rescue bid. Some were seen picking up the distressed chicks and putting them into their vehicles so as to prevent them from being run over, while others gently herded them alongside the road, bringing them water and alerting the forest department.

Some even took the displaced and harried chicks home to nurse them back to health.Egrets come under Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and hurting these birds or destroying their nests attracts strict legal penalties and fines under forest department regulations.Following the public anger, the electricity department sought to distance themselves from the incident, claiming that the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) engaged a private contractor for road widening on ten master plan routes, including Nipania.IMC additional commissioner Abhay Rajangaokar said over 25 trees lining the stretch were marked for trimming or shifting with requisite permissions, adding that the contractor was ordered to plant ten times the number of felled trees near Sirpur pond.“The contractor has now been instructed to safely relocate bird nests during similar trimming work in future,” Rajangaokar said.Forest officials, including Ranger Sangeeta Thakur and SDO Amit Solanki, confirmed that the surviving chicks were rescued and treated at a local zoo, while 15 healthy older birds were released into the Umrikheda forests.The forest department, meanwhile, demanded official reports from the IMC and other agencies concerned, fixing accountability for the lapse.GFX HEADLINE: AXE FALLS ON NESTSAround 50 egret chicks injuredMultiple nests & eggs destroyedSurviving birds shifted to Indore zooSDO Forest seeks report from RangerIMC, Electricity Dept asked to fix accountability