Chandbali: It may sound strange but true. Bees have turned guardian angels for an old banyan tree here at a time when several other trees have been felled to make space for Bhadrak-Chandbali road expansion, a report said.
With its branches replete with beehives, the tree stands out in Ugratra Nanda Baba Ashram and has been a home to a variety of birds.
As part of the road expansion work, trees are being cut down from the roadside after the Orissa Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) put up their auction, sources said. An OFDC employee, requesting anonymity, said for fear of attack by bees, the tree has not been chopped off till date. He said after monsoon arrives, bees will fly away and the tree will be felled. “But there is no way out to save the tree. We are waiting for change of weather,” he added.
Now, woodcutters are mulling the option of driving the bees away from the place. “Fire will be set on the beehives to drive the buzzing insects away,” they said. Satish Das, a local resident, lamented, “I will thank the bees for saving the banyan tree for the last six months. The road expansion work goes on endlessly with trees being felled. But the government never thinks of compensatory afforestation on both sides of the road.”
Bhadrak divisional forest officer Pradip Kumar Sethi said funds have been arranged to plant saplings 10 times more the number of trees felled after the completion of the project. PNN