Exotic trees need attention at Ramnagar in Coimbatore:
A car and a motorcycle parked in Ram Nagar were damaged after a tree fell on them on Monday.
The mayflower tree was one of the many exotic trees planted along city roads that cry for attention due to weak branches, which can fall at any time. Many of them are decades old.
The condition of the trees became worse last month after incessant rain weakened them. While authorities assured to identify such trees and prune the branches to avoid accidents, very little was done in this regard.
S Krishnan of Ram Nagar said that the official did visit the next day, but took no action. “They need to be sensitive towards the lives of commuters as it is one of the busy roads in the city,” he said. While native species are planted along with rural areas and highways, exotic species are seen in the city limits, said G Aravind of Gandhipuram, a nature lover.
Such incidents could be avoided if the city corporation had pruned branches of vulnerable trees, said M Loganathan, state coordinator of the Federation for Sustainable Development. “The city corporation lacks a comprehensive database of such trees. Creation of such a database is need of the hour,” he said.
Exotic trees are preferred as they grow fast, but they come at a cost, which commuters are forced to bear. A senior corporation official promised to take steps to identify vulnerable trees and prune their branches.
Meena
Read, People blocked the road in front of Coimbatore Collectorate on ycourcoimbatore.com
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