In a meeting with 11 UP chairmen, he passed an edict for having all the rain trees in their respective areas felled. The leaves of this variety of tree was alleged to be acidic de-fertilising land, and therefore, the habitats had to be shorn of it. So the sermon went impelling the household owners to comply with the UNO's orders. A countless number of rain trees were sawed down.

There are strong reasons to believe that the whole operation has been staged-managed to let the saw mill owners, wood traders and furniture manufacturers reap windfalls out of the misery of hundreds of house owners.

The thing is, rain tree is hugely environment-friendly; it's fast growing, its huge foliage is shade-giving and it helps the environs cool off with a balmy breeze. Besides, its dried out leaves are actually organic manure.

The question that inevitably arises from the pernicious action of the UNO is: how was it possible for him to carry out the destructive mission for long eight months with the forest department, and his higher-up the deputy commissioner, remaining completely in the dark about it? Why was he not stopped on the track? Whereas the prime minister of the country has been untiringly stressing the point: "plant tree, save the environment, and tree is our friend" -- the UNO has done something which is the exact opposite of what the chief executive of the country wants.

He must be held to account for the action while he is directed to do compensatory plantation in the standard ratio of three trees, inclusive of two fruit trees and one rain tree, for the one tree lost.