Tree felling around Sankey

I was alarmed to see trees lining the walking-track around Sankey Tank being felled this morning. But, on enquiring at the Deccan Herald office, I found out that they're following a carefully laid-out development plan for the peripheral areas of the lake. A committee is supposedly in place to carry out the planning & implementation of this. The reporter was kind enough to provide details about this. He even said that 2 new trees will be grown in place of every OLD tree chopped there. But, when I asked him if such "committees" were not acting as per their own whims & fancies, he just said, "We're hopeful that that's not the case & that all this is not an eyewash.We're keeping an eye on developments".
In retrospect, the press is probably the last powerful institution that's capable of protecting Bangalore's ecological balance. (Sigh)