Mysuru, April 13 -- Trees older than 50 years chopped to widen 50-ft road between Nexus Mall and SP Office

In a staggering blow to Mysuru city's urban ecology, 45 fully grown, shade-giving trees - each more than 50 years old - were felled early this morning to make way for a road-widening project.

The mass tree cutting, carried out by the very Government that regularly boasts of greening the city through plantation drives, has left residents and environmentalists stunned.

The operation was jointly executed by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and the Forest Department, exposing the hypocrisy at the heart of the city's so-called 'green mission.'

While infrastructure upgrades may be inevitable, the manner and scale of this deforestation...