Growing concern over falling trees

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.

TOI had highlighted the condition of the trees 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 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 rural areas and highways, exotic species are seen in the city limits, said G Aravind of Gandhipuram, a nature lover. “Exotic trees are preferred as they grow fast, but they come at a cost, which commuters are forced to bear.”

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.

A senior corporation official promised to take steps to identify vulnerable trees and prune their branches.


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