Dead trees lurking danger in Chandigarh; who cares?

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 27

In what increases the risk of mishaps, it takes about two months to cut a dead tree in the city after a formal complaint is filed.

A recent complaint regarding a tree that fell on a Sector 15 house, injuring an elderly couple, was filed a week ago, but the plaint remained “under process” when the tragedy struck the family.

Sources said the MC had about 1.65 lakh trees and the UT’s horticulture wing had about 21,000 trees under its jurisdiction.

If a resident finds a dead tree and files a complaint, it is first sent to the Superintending Engineer. Then it is marked to the Executive Engineer and later to the Junior Engineer, who conducts a field inspection. He then submits his report, which follows the same channel upward and reaches the Commissioner in case of the MC and the Adviser in case of the Administration. The report is then sent to the UT Forest Department. After getting approval of the forest wing, the MC/Administration starts the tendering process. A tender is floated for cutting and removing the wood. Thereafter, a contractor is finalised, who, after completing formalities and paying the government fee, finally removes the tree.

“It is a long and time-consuming process. By this time, a tree may fall and lead to loss of property or life. We had first lodged a complaint in 2017 and now a week ago, but they woke up only after the tree fell on the house. The tree that fell yesterday was green, but its roots had become hollow as rats had eaten them,” said Piyush Garg, whose parents were injured in the incident yesterday.

Rahul Mahajan, a city-based horticulturist, said: “Officials should check trees in 15 days or so. They should be held accountable if any tree falls. They do not even prepare a logbook. Some trees are falling not because they have lived their lifespan, but because of tiles, cemented area or road widening around them.”

Residents lament that despite complaints of pruning or dead trees, officials do not respond or take too long to take note. “A tall, almost dead and dry tree is posing a threat to people in our area. It may fall down any day due to a storm. The MC should take immediate steps in such cases,” said Sameer Pal Srow, a resident of the Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra.

Meanwhile, MC Superintending Engineer (Horticulture) Krishan Pal Singh said: “We have already shortened the process for removing dead trees from two months to a month now. Besides, during the process, we prune trees to avoid any mishap. In case of a bad situation, we remove the tree ourselves after approval from the forest wing. Sometimes people want us to prune a tree in a certain way, which we cannot as we have to do it technically.”

UT Horticulture Department Executive Engineer Parvesh Sharma said: “It takes 45 days to two months to cut a dead tree. In the meantime, we prune it.”

The process

A complaint is sent to the Superintending Engineer. Then it is marked to the Executive Engineer and later to the Junior Engineer, who conducts a field inspection. He then submits his report, which reaches the MC Commissioner/ Adviser. After getting approval from the Forest Department, the tendering process begins. After completing formalities, a contractor finally removes the dead tree.