450 dangerous trees in Shimla

Navneet Rathore

Shimla, July 4

Over 450 dangerous and dry trees are posing a threat to residents of the state capital. The residents say they have submitted requests to lop off dangerous trees across the town to the authorities concerned.

Most of the complaints have been received from New Shimla, Khalini, Kanlog, Patiyog, Summer Hill, Bhatta Kuffar, Nabha and Fagli wards of the Shimla Municipal Corporation.

Many residents claim they had filed complaints regarding the dangerous trees a long time ago, but no action has been taken so far.

Recently, a tree committee under the leadership of Mayor Surender Chauhan visited various residential areas of the town and identified the dangerous trees.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Shimla (Urban), Pawan Chauhan said the tree committee was visiting the areas from where the complaints had been received.

He said after identifying the dangerous trees a report would be submitted to the sub-committee of the state government. Further action will be taken after that, the DFO added. Last year, the state’s capital witnessed immense loss of life and property due to the natural disaster triggered by torrential rain.

Heavy rain in Shimla, several roads closed

Heavy rain in the state’s capital has led to the closure of several roads for vehicular traffic. Two trees were uprooted in the Vijaynagar area and one on the Himland-Khalini link road. Roads and drains were waterlogged, causing inconvenience to locals as well as tourists. It started raining in the wee hours of Thursday and continued throughout the day. The Chakkar-Bilaspur road as well as Taradevi-Totu road were blocked. The roads were later cleared by the district administration. As per the state’s Meteorological Department, light to moderate rainfall will continue in Shimla for the next 24 hours.