CUT DOWN

There are trees perched too precariously near habitations to be allowed to continue standing, but the felling of even these dangerous stands can be disturbing. The Forest Department on Saturday evening cut down a more than a 100-year-old tree at 6th Mile Hawaghar, Gangtok. The tree was obviously there before houses crowded it dangerously, but what made the felling heart-wrenching was that it included the demolishing of three crow nests which collapsed along with the tree. While one of the nests had hatchlings, another had eggs. All were lost, along with a handsome nest which had GI wires weaved in along with the more organic raw material crows use to make their nests.