Last Saturday, an avenue tree opposite the Government Tiruvotteswarar Hospital for Thoracic Medicine on Konnur High Road came crashing down, damaging the parapet wall in one house and an air-conditioner in another.
Residents of the neighbourood say this was more of an expected event than an accident: The roots of the tree had weakened due to soil around it getting displaced on account of earth movers being used in drain-laying work. “We had been cautioned about the imminent fall of the tree, and so we stayed indoors,” says D. Gayathri, whose house was damaged.
She is a resident of Subburayan 2nd Street and the terrace of her modest brick house overlooks the Konnur High Road. Her 30-year-old house had been passed on to her by her father.
“The contractor has assured us that he would rebuild the wall,” she adds.
In a neighbouring building, the window air-conditioner was damaged in the tree fall. A resident of the neighbourhood Binu Joshua Thomas has appealed to the Chennai Corporation and the Metro Water authorities to help them replant the tree.
“We can scoop the tree out with the roots intact and with the help of the Corporation have it relocated,” says Thomas, who estimates that the tree could be around 60 years old. “I have seen this tree since I was a little boy. The alignment of the drain had to be adjusted and the tree was in the way. If they had taken some effort, the tree could have been saved,” says Thomas, who is part of a citizens’ group called Tree for Life. In 2017, he had replanted a tree, damaged in cyclcone Vardah, in his property, he says. The tree, a rare variety, has now started sprouting shoots, Thomas adds.
Botanists, however, say replanting will be successful with younger trees whose roots are not damaged. Unless the tree is of a rare species botanists do not recommend replanting.
Sometimes the roots of avenue trees are affected by repeated digging of roads to lay cables or such work. This leads to development of hollows in the tree and that is one reason it cannot withstand stress, explains D. Narasimhan, a retired professor of Botany. Thomas has since been assured by the Corporation that the axed tree will be replaced. “The Corporation Assistant Engineer responded to my message and we met again at the location. Since the roots have dried the tree tipped over,” he adds.
“The icing on the cake is that the engineer showed me four rare variety trees that had been relocated from the same stretch to another location. The leaves have started to sprout,” he says.
The Corporation officer has promised that the tree will be replaced by a 25-ft tree from the Forest Department.
