NEW DELHI: The aftermath of the squall was felt from a day after on Tuesday as well, with complaints pouring in from residents to report uprooted trees and get them removed from their way. Over 300 trees across the city have fallen off, of which around 100 are just within Lutyens’ Delhi, as per reports prepared by the civic bodies.
Officials said that while the squall was like the last nail, but “stress” on trees over the years from concretisation, temperature fluctuations and frequent cutting into roots while digging activities are the major reasons behind the weakening of their foundation.
At least 77 trees were uprooted while 58 branches were broken in Lutyens’ Delhi till late Monday night, as per a report prepared by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which caters to this part of the city. The uprooted trees include neem, pilkhan, arjun, semal, jamun, imli, peepal, bargad, kadelia and kusum, among others, officials said. The trees have fallen on key stretches including Copernicus Marg, Teen Murti Marg, Todarmal Lane, Parliament Street, Sansad Marg, Ashoka Road, Babur Road and Ferozeshah Road, among others.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which caters to rest of the city, said that 155 more complaints of trees being uprooted were received from various parts of the city between 9 pm on Monday and 3 pm on Tuesday. This is in addition to the 84 trees that were uprooted till Monday evening.
S Chellaiah, director, NDMC, said that the damages are still being assessed and over a 100 trees are feared to have been uprooted while approximately 1,000 branches of full-grown trees have been broken. “This kind of destruction of trees after a storm has not been seen before in the recent history. It is saddening that so many old and full-grown avenue trees have fallen off. The high pressure winds were just the immediate cause while the stress being faced by the tree bases repeatedly over the years due to rapid urbanisation is the major reason for weakening of roots and falling off during a storm,” he said.
He further said that rampant and mindless concretisation around tree bases by various agencies including government offices, temperature fluctuations such as excessive heat and frequent cutting into roots while digging around trees for laying underground utilities have weakened the roots of trees. “Take an example, if someone pushes needles or injects a person’s stomach, what will happen? It will weaken and one day when there will be a sudden blow or an illness, it will give away and stop functioning. The same way if the roots system is tampered with frequently, it gets damaged and starts to weaken and decay slowly giving away when a storm occurs,” he said.
