A drunken brawl leads to felling of fully grown peepal and jamun trees in Hyderabad

Sanctions did not stop people from cutting down two mature trees, peepal and jamun, after an unrelated brawl | Photo credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

In a bizarre incident in the city, two decades-old fully grown trees were chopped down after a drunken brawl two years ago.

The trees in question — a 40-45-year-old peepal and a 20-25-year-old jamun — were in the middle of a 40-feet long road in RTC Colony, Chintalkunta in the Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation area. According to local residents, the trees existed on the sides of the road along with a neem tree before the road leading to the residential gated community was widened around 2016.

The neem tree was the first victim a few years ago on the pretext that it was obstructing the path of power lines. Not long after, a brawl broke out between some people from the community and residents of the RTC colony who were drinking liquor under a tree. Things escalated and the fight came to a head, eventually leading to criminal cases.

Less than a month ago, around the time Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy launched the Vanamahotsavam-2026 tree plantation drive by planting a ‘Nagalingam’ sapling in Gurramguda forest block, attempts were made to cut down the cuckoo tree by cutting its branches. The forest department officials were alerted and the beater came, warned the offenders and left. The next day the tree was cut down to a stump. After receiving the complaint, the forest department officials conducted a panchanam and assessed a fine of ₹50,000 on the people who felled the tree, which was paid immediately.

Sanctions did not stop people from cutting down two mature trees, peepal and jamun, after an unrelated brawl | Photo credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

While the offenders sold the wood from the tree after paying the fine, the foresters ignored it, saying that the tree belongs to the municipality, which is authorized to act.

A jamun tree was also felled on the night between July 5 and 6, without any fear of crime.

Forestry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited an agreement between the two sides of a previous criminal case as the main cause that sealed the fate of the two trees. According to the agreement, the injured party wanted the trees removed in exchange for a compromise in the criminal case.

“This just goes to show how easy it is to cut down mature trees in Hyderabad. The irony is that it has been done twice at the same place by the same people despite the intervention of the forest department, which by the way now steps in and imposes a paltry amount as fine. They cannot bring back the trees – both indigenous varieties that provide enough oxygen for decades and support extensive life,” said Pedatadi U. Krishna Foundation.

He says such an insensitive attitude trickles down from the people in power.

“Like rulers, like people. What else can we expect from citizens who are ruled by planners with a similar thought process?” he says, while recounting a number of such cases where trees were felled at will, for flimsy reasons such as blocking storefronts.

Uday Krishna demanded that the Forest Department ensure planting of six trees at the same place and slap criminal action against the vagrants in addition to penalties.

Published – 7 Jul 2026 08:43 IST