An environmental storm is brewing along the banks of Faridkot’s twin canals — the Rajasthan Feeder and the Sirhind Feeder — as thousands of trees planted and nurtured over nearly two decades now stand dangerously exposed due to large-scale excavation undertaken by private contractors for relining work.Local environmentalists and residents have voiced sharp anger over what they describe as a reckless excavation method adopted by contractors, alleging that heavy machinery has dug deep into the pathway dividing the twin canals, stripping away soil so aggressively that the base roots of thousands of trees have been left bare and structurally unsupported.For 25 to 30 years, local volunteers and nature lovers have dedicated their time and resources to planting and nurturing a lush green belt along the canal banks. Activists allege the ongoing earthwork has undone decades of painstaking community conservation during the last one week. “Stripped of their foundational soil cover, the trees are now left balancing precariously on small, unstable mounds of dirt. During a spell of high-velocity winds on Thursday, several of the weakened trees collapsed,” claimed Shankar Sharma, convener of the Jal Jeevan Bachao Morcha, a voluntary organisation dedicated to plants and water resources in the area.When confronted with growing outrage and photographic evidence from the site, Sandeep Goyal, Superintending Engineer (SE) of the Sirhind Feeder and Rajasthan Feeder canals, defended the department’s approach while acknowledging the environmental fallout. “The soil and earthwork are being cleared because we are required to maintain a precise relative level for the canal banks as per technical guidelines,” he said.Goyal, however, conceded that the excavation had inadvertently threatened a number of trees. “We have initiated the process of putting soil back around those areas to secure the roots,” he assured.Environmentalists have rejected the assurance as insufficient and are demanding an immediate halt to heavy machinery operation in close proximity to the green belt, swift execution of the promised soil-refilling work and strict accountability to ensure engineering targets are not met at the cost of Faridkot’s tree cover.Residents fear that unless urgent corrective steps are taken, a green legacy painstakingly built over two decades will be irreversibly lost to what they call administrative negligence.