On Sunday, a bunch boys go tree-climbing. It is an act motivated by love for the trees. They remove the nails driven into tree trunks.
They are volunteers of ‘Free The Tree,’ a campaign launched by Nizhal, a non-governmental organisation working for the protection of trees. Gajendran, a longtime volunteer, says, “I have always loved the Kotturpuram Tree Park, awed by its beauty. During my Class XI vacation, I took part in a tree walk organised by Nizhal at the park. There, I learnt about the literary references and ecological significance of the indigenous species of trees. This walk bought out the nature-enthusiast in me. And I became a volunteer of Nizhal.”
Gajendran is now studying at A.M. Jain College, Meenambakkam, and has brought in two other friends of his college to volunteer for Nizhal.
“Gajendran has inspired me to become a volunteer at Nizhal. He used to share with us his experiences at the campaigns conducted by Nizhal and that instilled in me an interest in tree walks and encouraged me to become a member,” says Hitesh, Gajendran’s classmate.
It is one year since Hitesh began to volunteer for Nizhal, and this resident of Kodungaiyur is now engaged in raising a park at Madhavaram.
Seeing these two friends watering the saplings and removing nails from trees near the Kotturpuram MRTS station, Vinoth, a boy of their age, joined them. At present, these boysfocus on the trees in Kotturpuram, Nandanam, Mylapore, Shastri Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Besant Nagar and Guindy.
This team has received a letter from the Chennai Corporation permitting them to remove nails and advertisement boards from trees.
If there are any phone numbers on the advertisement boards, they inform the persons concerned that their boards have been removed and explain to them that such practices are harmful to trees.
