India, May 4 -- By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

A full two weeks have passed, after forty majestic copper-pod trees (Peltophorum pterocarpum) along the two sides of the Hyder Ali Road in our city, were chopped down in a very swift and clandestine operation, that was cunningly planned and quickly executed, under the cover of darkness.

It was daylight murder, at midnight. That this was done in a fashion that has hitherto been the standard modus operandi of nocturnal sandalwood looters is bad enough.

But what makes it very vulgar is the fact that this shameful strategy was resorted to, not by petty criminals but by an unholy nexus of our civic authorities like the City Corporation and the Forest Department, both of which are vested with the a...