Residents alleged the DCC officials started chopping down the trees one by one about a week ago. The matter remained almost unnoticed by the unsuspecting residents as the DCC workers chopped each tree down with mechanical equipments and removed them quickly. The whole operation of chopping a tree down and removing it took hardly an hour. After the felling of each tree, they covered their traces with earth and quickly moved to another tree.

"We did not notice anything until today [yesterday] when they chopped down the old krishnachura tree in front of the Capital Recreation Club and tried to remove it quickly," said a resident requesting anonymity.

At the site yesterday members of the Bangladesh Paribesh Bachao Andolan were present to protest against the felling of the trees.

DCC Executive Engineer of Zone 9 (Gulshan), Arefur Rahman told The Daily Star he had taken the decision to widen the road to ensure smooth flow of traffic from Baridhara DOHS to Gulshan and Gulshan to Pragati Sarani.

Replying to a question, he said he did not think it necessary to consult the Traffic Engineering Division of the DCC. "Traffic Engineering is a part of civil engineering and therefore being a civil engineer I can take the decision to widen a road," Arefur Rahman added.

A top DCC official source in Nagar Bhaban said the decision to chop down more than a hundred trees in Gulshan area is obscure and one can only assume it was nothing but 'stealing public property.'

"This is a ploy to make huge amount of money through the sales of timber from these priceless trees, which were planted over 30 years ago," the source said. "The minimum price of any timber in the market is sky-high. So, by selling these trees the people involved have made some quick money," he added.