Mangaluru : Green activists staged a protest at the old deer park, in front of Kadri Park, here on Monday against felling trees for the on-going musical fountain project and its associated works.

The Mangaluru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) has taken up the project in the land belonging to the Department of Horticulture.

In addition to the fountain, an amphitheatre (open air seating arrangement to view musical fountain show), children’s park, pathway, water pond, security room, compound wall, main gate, project room, ground-level water tank and building 15 shops along Kadri Road would be part of the project.

The activists under the banner ‘Rashtriya Parisara Samrakshana Okkuta’ climbed a tree and vented their anger against the government for taking up the project at the cost of trees. They said that Kadri Park is the largest lung space in the city.

H. Shashidhar Shetty, secretary of the Okkuta, claimed that over 50 trees, including saplings, either have been set on fire or removed by an earth-mover for the project without the approval of the Forest department. He said that they would file a complaint to this effect with the police and Forest department against MUDA, Horticulture Department and the contractor of the project.

P. Sridhar, Range Forest Officer, Mangaluru, said that 17 trees have been cut without the permission of the Forest department. The department would first suo motu book a case against the contractor of the project under Section 33(2)V of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963.