Experts: Need scientific plan to check tree health

T'puram: It's been a year since trees were pruned and cut across the city during monsoon, but state govt is yet to come up with a scientific method to assess the health of trees and decide if they are risky or not. The new govt may have to take steps to bring together the departments concerned and ensure that the trees in public spaces in the state capital can be protected. Currently, there is no single agency that is entrusted to protect or manage urban tree cover. City corporation and PWD have no expertise, while the forest department has been kept out or is not roped in to assess the health of trees before they are pruned or cut to prevent the risk of falling due to monsoon rain. A nature expert said there is a need for scientific assessment of trees well ahead of the monsoon instead of taking last-minute steps. In the absence of a comprehensive system by govt, tree lovers in the city have started to take up the responsibility in a small way. Anitha Sharma of Tree Walk, an NGO, said that "We have started to do a small study of trees at risk and started to inform the authorities about a dried branch of a jamun tree at Ayurveda College junction. They have pruned it." She said that volunteers are also told to keep a watch for tree branches that appear to be at risk of breaking. "Haphazard mutilation of trees should not be done, and the govt should rope in an expert organization to assess the health of trees. The pre-monsoon checks should have started in Jan or Feb," she added. Pruning has started in Kumarapuram and PTP Nagar areas. During last monsoon, after strong winds led to tree fall, the disaster management authority issued a blanket order telling govt departments to prune or cut trees that can fall. This led to large-scale unscientific pruning and cutting of trees across the city.