Caution! A Strong Wind Can Bring This Dilapidated Tree Down Anytime

By
Alfie Dsouza, Team Mangalorean.
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Caution! A Strong Wind Can Bring This Dilapidated Tree Down Anytime

Mangaluru: In spite of falling tree branches and also trees getting uprooted and causing heavy damage to buildings, property, vehicles, and also injuring commuters, the district authorities/MCC Officials/Forest Department Authorities have not taken any action in trimming branches or chopping down old hazardous trees. In the past few days, after the city was lashed with torrential rains, with gusty winds, there have been quite a few incidents of trees being uprooted or branches landing on building/homes.vehicles and people. While Environmentalists and Forest Department Officials are quick enough to be at the spot to stop trimming or cutting hazardous trees, but when these trees come crashing down on vehicles, houses, walls etc, during that them you’ll not find any of the environmental activists nor forest dept officials. Why? I guess they are guilty!

Even after Mangaluru had seen quite a few fallen trees creating huge losses to property, few days ago huge dilapidated old tree got uprooted in front of Canara School-Urwa, near Mangala Stadium and crashed in the middle of the road, thereby blocking the movement of traffic in that area. The first personnel to arrive at the scene were the fire brigade personnel, followed by the police after a while. Luckily this accident didn’t hurt or create any damage to property- and also that the incident happened after school closing time, so the students were also lucky to escape from getting hurt. Also lucky was a street vendor lady, who always does her business near the bottom of this tree, but yesterday she had set up her place on the footpath- thus she also escaped a tragedy.

Now bringing to the attention of Mangaluru City Corporation, MESCOM, and concerned authorities, Team Mangalorean hereby wants to highlight on yet another dilapidated old tree which is very hazardous, and may come crashing down anytime soon, due to strong winds and pounding rains. This tree is located on the busy Airport Road, right apposite to Karnataka Housing Board Colony, near Bondel-Mangaluru. A part of this tree had once come in contact with the Mescom electric wires which were touching the branches, and resulted in fire, burning a portion of the tree. The black burnt spot is still visible, and pieces of the burnt trunk are scattered on the ground {See Pics}. Apart from the burnt portion, the tree is also hollow- and has hardly any support. So chances are that a strong and gusting winds could knock this tree down in no time. And if that’s the case, how come MCC and other district administration have turned a blind eye against this safety hazard.

A nearby resident speaking to Team Mangalorean said, ” Our house is very close to this old tree, and every time when it rains heavy with strong winds we get nervous, fearing that this tree may fall on our house or on someone walking on the road, or it could be a vehicle. Other day Mescom crew came and trimmed the branches, and left behind all the mess. By just trimming the branches, you won’t solve this safety issue. Since the part of the tree is burnt, and most part of it is hollow, there are very good chances that this tree could come crashing down due to strong gales. Therefore without wasting time, the concerned authorities should take necessary action soon”.

So coming to the point, lately while scores of old trees have falling all over the city following strong gales, resulting in damages to vehicles and property, why hasn’t the concerned authorities taken any precautionary measures. Most of the trees had no room for their roots to spread out and this led to gradual decay. In other cases, growing trees had their branches cut regularly on one side, because they leaned on to private property; the trees grew up lopsided and leaned far on to the roads. This means their remaining branches too were regularly being trimmed and they lost strength. The concerned authorities are expected to monitor a city-wide “tree census” to determine how many trees are really a danger to traffic or at risk of falling down during heavy rain and strong winds. Trees which are unable to bear the air pollution and decaying should also be identified. But seems like no one is doing their job right- and as a result, we have trees come crashing down on vehicles etc now and then.

A few officials from MCC say that when they are ready to trim or cut down old and hazardous trees, they are usually stopped by environment activists or Forest dept officials- so they are in a fix. On the other hand, the problem with our MCC authorities is that they wait till the trees fall, and then only take action–like many trees had fallen due to rains recently. The safety of pedestrians and of all road users should be the first and most important priority for National Highway authorities and also local authorities and also for a State body that has the responsibility in this area. Some of these trees may have a disease, which is a clear indication of root rot. Through this report, Team Mangalorean is asking as a matter of urgency with the concerned people at MCC and Forest department that old and hazardous trees are inspected and those that appear in any way dubious should be promptly removed before they crash down resulting in injuries or death to motorists or pedestrians.

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