Leaning Trees on NH-66 near Nanthoor Pose Danger
Leaning Trees on NH-66 near Nanthoor Junction Pose danger to Pedestrians and Motorists walking or driving on that road stretch
Mangaluru: “Warm Wishes to Team Mangalorean, I am a daily reader of your Website. With reference to the above mentioned Subject, near Nanthoor Junction when you come from Kankanady Pumpwell Road you can see the Slanting/leaning Trees above in left side where the new widening of road is been done recently. The slanting trees look most dangerous as they have grown old and now due to heavy rain or wind breeze they may fall to the road at anytime. During peak hours, due to traffic congestion, many vehiclkes get stranded under these trees, and chances are that one of these trees may crash down on these vehicles. There are many people walking by this stretch of road from day to night. Kindly visit the spot if possible and take certain measures from department concerned “- was the email message from one of our ardent reader, Suraj Acharya.
In response to the above email and the concerned topic, Team Mangalorean swung into action to do a write up on this hazardous issue. And yes we did notice that fragile and potentially diseased trees lining the picturesque NH-17 near Nanthoor junction do pose a danger to pedestrians and motorists as they could easily snap in windy and rainy conditions. Many of these tress are leaning/slanting on to the road precariously, and look very fragile and threatening, while some of infected trees may also be destroying the roots. Couple of these trees have their roots protruding out of the soil, and they may be uprooted anytime, and fall right on middle of the road.
Lately scores of old trees fell all over the city following strong gales, resulting in damages to vehicles and property. 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.
The problem with our authorities is that they wait till the trees fall, and the only take action–like the one tree that came down crashing on a parked car/shops near Karangalpady – Mangaluru, incurring in losses. Only if the authorities had cut down this tree earlier when it posed some danger, there wouldn’t been any damages like now. Few days ago a huge tree came down crashing near Pandeshwar/Forum Mall area.
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 responsibility in this area. Some of these trees may have disease, which is a clear indication of root rot. Through this report Team Mangalorean is asking as a matter of urgency that these trees near Nanthoor Junction are inspected and that those that appear in any way dubious should be promptly removed, before they crash down on the highway resulting in injuries or death to motorists or pedestrians.