Around 20 trees were felled on Monday on the eastern side of the canteen, popularly known as 'Shalik Chattar'. It is an admired place for gathering for many studying in the arts, commerce and social science faculties.

"Once upon a time many shalik birds would come to this place but later the authorities cleared the place and those birds are not seen any more. Now the big trees are also being felled. This is very unfortunate," said a student.

Pro-VC AFM Yusuf Haidar said that they do not want to chop down trees but they are 'helpless' and left with no other options.

"We want to save the trees but what can we do? We have to accommodate students. We are helpless," he said.

"We will plant more trees in a planned way," he added.

"DU campus has been shrunk from its original area of 600 acres to 249 acres and the number of students has increased many times. So we have to chop down trees to create more space, accommodate more students," said Haidar.

The authorities are planning to extend its campus to the suburbs of the city as the space is shrinking gradually. "We will apply to the government for 200 acres of land," he said.

Suhrawardi Udyan, Bangla Academy, Attorney General's Office, National Museum and many other important buildings and parks are situated on the DU campus. These buildings have shrunk the area of the campus.

"But we have nothing to do about it because these are important buildings," he said.

A 10-storey building for the faculty of social science will be built on the place at a cost of Tk 20 crore. DU's internal committee took the decision on site selection and construction two years ago.

About taking Rajuk's permission for the construction, Haidar said, "Traditionally DU does not take permission from any organisation for building construction since its inception."

About the master plan of DU campus, he said that it is assigned to a committee headed by Prof Nazrul Islam. "But there has not been much progress [on the master plan]," the pro-VC admitted.