THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The tree committee, including the mayor, forest officials and activists, is yet to convene any special meeting on pruning the dangerous trees even with monsoon at the gates. Schools will reopen on Thursday and trees have been falling at various locations in the city with the onslaught of monsoon, say KSEB officials. While pruning has been regularly done based on the requests by various bodies like PWD, there has been no comprehensive risk assessment. Two years back, five children were killed when an unpruned tree fell onto a school bus at Kothamangalam. On both sides of the road at places like Vazhuthacaud-Thycaud road and Pongamoodu- Kochuloor stretch, there are several trees that require urgent pruning, point out officials.
A tree broken by the wind rests on handrail near the Museum junction on Tuesday. (Photo: Peethambaran Payyeri)
“We give permission to prune trees though the requests for felling trees are subject to strict review. Trees such as acacia, subabu and rain tree are prone to falling in monsoon. We will call a meeting once the mayor is free,” said a forest official. The most number of requests for pruning comes through PWD Roads and Kerala Road Fund Board. Apart from those are requests through PWD buildings. “We received many tree felling requests from places like medical college which were okayed after review,” said the official. In 2014, a bystander had died after a tree branch fell on him at Peroorkada government hospital.
Apart from government officials, architect G. Shankar, activists Sugatha-kumari and Sreedhar Radhakrishnan are part of the committee. As per the provisions of Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and CRPC, trees can be cut down if they pose a threat to life and property. However, the provision gets abused many times, say revenue officials. Sub-collector Divya S. Iyer said that tree disputes were highest in the district. As per conservative estimates, there are at least 200 pleas from the people to cut down trees in neighbours’ property in the district.
