Residents replant banyan tree uprooted by cyclone Vardha

CHENNAI: Hours after cyclone Vardha wreaked havoc in the city, Elango Raghupathy went over to the Independence Park near Valluvar Kottam in

Nungambakkam

and surveyed the destruction. He then took photographs of the uprooted trees and shared them with friends. Three men Elango, Karthikeyan Murugan and

Basith Bas

then decided to do their bit and began a WhatsApp group to save the trees in the park, particularly a 60-yearold banyan tree which was uprooted.

On Sunday, with the help of the corporation and horticulture experts Alladi Mahadevan and C P

Anoop Kumar

, the tree was replanted.

Said Elango

, “I live next door to the park and was shattered at the havoc Vardha had caused and wanted to do something to restore the trees. So we began to garner support to clean up the park and with the help of Mahadevan and Anoop who came and inspected the uprooted tree and told us that it could be replanted, we decided to appro ach Chennai corporation.“

Karthikeyan Murugan said, “we prepared a dossier and approached the corporation commissioner for help and he was very encouraging and said his officers would get back to us, and they did. We did not want to do anything on our own as we are not horticulture experts and a crane and JCB machines were needed to lift the tree and replant it.“

C P Anoop Kumar of Green Thumb Horticulture and Farm Consultations, said, “The moment I saw the root and the milk flowing from just cutting a bit of the tree I knew it could be restored. We rendered first aid to the root with leaves and bags and used anti-fungal spores to restore the soil. The one which was replanted on Sunday is a prop or aerial root and I can assure you that it will be restored to its glory.“

Fire and rescue services personnel and police were also pressed into service to ensure that no untoward incident occurred during the replanting. The school road in Nungambakkam was cut off for traffic and youngsters, morning walkers came in hordes to witness the replanting and cheered with glee.