Activists pave cycle lane along ring road

KATHAMNDU, June 22:

A group of environmentalists on Friday paved 350 meter long and 2 meter wide cycle lane along the ring road in Thasikhel to show that roads can be widened without cutting the trees.

It is an attempt by the youths united under ´White Butterfly Movement´ that is working to prevent the felling of over 1200 trees along the Kalanki-Koteshwar section of the ring road that has been earmarked for expansion under Chinese government´s aid.

Earlier, they had submitted letters to several government bodies and also to the Chinese Embassy to reconsider the decision to cut the trees while widening the road.
“It cost Rs 7,500 for the materials, while the labor was voluntarily provided by the movement activists. It is only symbolic protest against the government move. We built the cycle lane just to show that roads can be widened while still saving the trees,” said president of Cycle City Network Nepal and member of the movement Shail Shrestha.

According to Ishan Adhikari, one of the active members engaged in making the lane, urban planning engineers and architects have been invited on Saturday to do serious environment assessment in the area. “The concerned government department needed to be anxious about saving the trees. But they are not. We have been organizing several programs to sensitize the government and the people against cutting down the trees. This is an effort to save the greenery,” he said.
Adhikari added that if the road is expanded to six instead of 8 the trees can be saved. “This is not a highway. The road is inside the city. So we feel that just 6 lane ring road would be sufficient.”

The government of China has pledged to provide Rs 3.7 billion for widening the 9 km stretch. The construction was set to begin in June. However, consistent pressure from the campaigners against cutting down the trees has delayed the project.
The District Forestry Office (DFO), Lalitpur and Kathmandu have already permitted the Department of Road (DoR), Lalitpur to cut down as many as 1,239 trees that were planted in the 70s.

Ajit Karna, district forest officer at Lalitpur, said that the department has authority to influence the decision.

Source: Republica