City celebrities take up cause of trees

Environmentally conscious celebrities in Chennai are now raising their voices against neighbours indulging in indiscriminate felling of trees. Recently veteran Kollywood actor Nasser, a resident of Arunagiri Street in Valasaravakkam expressed his concerns over the chopping of four healthy trees in his colony by his neighbour. Similarly actor Thiagarajan also plans on approaching his neighbours to complain about the felling of a tree that has become a mainstay of a dead-end street in his neighbourhood.
Thiagarajan, a resident of T Nagar says, “A gigantic tree which was growing on a dead end street near my house has now come under attack owing to the construction of a private complex adjacent to it. In fact, the Chennai Traffic police had issued a certificate prohibiting anyone from trespassing this zone. But the 75-year-old tree is being chopped to make way for an alternate route to this area. I’ve sought help from my neighbours and we’ll soon register a complaint with respect to the same.”
Nasser explains, “The trees in question grow outside the compound wall of my neighbour’s house, which means no one, including the owner has the right to destroy those trees. The manner in which they have been pruned has left them devoid of any greenery. On several occasions, personnel from the electricity board have also chopped down trees when they found the growth as a disturbance to the power cables. It would have been wiser on part of the officials to inform the residents to refrain from planting trees alongside lamp posts and power lines.”
When contacted, Nasser’s neighbour Sundaramoorthy, an engineer argues, “I had planted these trees several years ago. And pruning the trees is a seasonal activity necessary for their upkeep. In a few months, the trees will regain all their leaves and will be restored to a healthy state.”
Experts say, the biggest impediment is that there are no stringent laws to govern the felling of trees in Tamil Nadu. Shobha Menon, a founder trustee with the Nizhal Foundation, an NGO that promotes the culture of planting trees in urban spaces says, “Unlike Maharashtra and Karnataka, our state does not have a Tree Act. We have been striving to put this across to the government and bring about a change in the way trees are treated.”
But there is a ray of hope as many youngsters have taken the initiative to offset the effects of chopping down trees with agressive tree-planting drives. Says Rohit Nathan, a young activist with WAYE, “Through our network, we encourage people in our neighbourhood to plant as many saplings as possible to keep our surroundings green.”