Porvorim, March 3 -- Team Herald

Even as the 200-year-old sacred banyan tree was mercilessly cut on Sunday morning at Porvorim for translocation and activists gathered to protest, a significant and controversial absence marked the proceedings - none of the top Opposition leaders were present at the

site to lend their weight to

the agitation.

With PWD and police authorities overseeing the translocation armed with a court order, activists and local residents did what they could, calling for the preservation of both the tree and the Khapreshwar Temple next to it and passionately pleading with the authorities to halt the cutting.

Activists were quick to criticise the lack of political engagement. Dipesh Naik, an environmental activist, e...