HYDERABAD: Lack of proper planning in pruning of trees by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has not only dealt a death blow to more than 3,000 trees in Hyderabad but is also causing power supply problems. As most of the big trees are overgrown in size with branches itself becoming huge logs, when rain coupled with strong winds lashes, most of the trees fall on electric poles and wires, disrupting power supply.
“In Hyderabad region alone, more than 250 electric poles have been knocked down due to heavy winds in the past ten days. Most of electric poles and wires fell down as huge trees have fallen on them. Though the electricity department staff swung into action and removed smaller trees to restore power supply, we are facing severe problems in removing larger trees and we are not getting any support from the GHMC in this regard,” said AG Satish Kumar, chief general manager, Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TSSPDCL), Hyderabad region.
Normally, tree pruning is done by the GHMC but in places where tree branches come across power lines, even TSSPDCL staff take up the job of trimming trees. But as big trees fell down in large numbers at regular intervals due to heavy winds over the past two weeks, electricity department staff were unable to deal with the situation. As a result, restoration of power supply was getting delayed in many areas.
“There should be coordination between GHMC and TSSPDCL in pruning trees. If tree pruning was done regularly then this situation would not have occurred. Even when residents inform GHMC staff about pruning of overgrown trees in their locality, GHMC staff do not respond swiftly. At least now GHMC should come up with proper planning to prune trees,” opined Ramakrishna, a resident of Gandhinagar, who is also a former director of projects division, HMWS&SB.
Though GHMC has formed a separate Urban Biodiversity Wing to monitor trees and parks in the city two years ago, the wing was unable to address the problem.
When contacted, V Damodar, incharge of GHMC’s Urban Biodiversity Wing said as intensity of winds and rains was very high, trees were uprooted and the scale of damage was very large. GHMC staff faced problems in clearing the trees.
“In spite of largescale damage, we were able to clear trees in short time. Our first priority was to clear trees and areas where traffic would be affected. Next priority was of clearing trees where power supply was obstructed. These early rains and winds have taught us a lesson. We are taking steps to ensure that all trees are pruned to protect them from falling and will also coordinate with TSSPDCL officials as monsoon is about to begin,” Damodar said.