Chennai: The sight would have brought tears to the eyes of environmentalists. The scenes were straight out of a horror movie portraying the end of civilisation as Chennai roads, rendered green by debris, were dotted with fallen trees, branches, twigs and leaves.
To say the least, the number officially given out — 12,000 in Chenai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram — was conservative. To believe 10,000 trees were felled by nature's fury personified in Cyclone Vardah in Chennai alone would not be a stretch of imagination.
So dense was the greenery even 40 years ago it would have been easy to believe the 376-yar-old city must have been built by clearing a forest. It is believed that in the name of widening roads, city officials first began chopping trees in the late 1960s. As the city got built up rapidly later, growing vertically in mid-city even as it expanded sideways in three directions, trees became the easy victims.
The number of victim trees in RA Puram and Boat Club area, places that would be at least 2 degrees cooler than surrounding areas thanks to the canopy of trees, was in the hundreds. Those that fell in areas around the national park around the Raj Bhavan, in IIT and AU campuses, besides Taramani were innumerable.
The developers and builders may have been guilty of sacrificing trees for the dwellings they built. Even then, the loss was gradual. A natural disaster like Vardah seems to have excelled in sending Chennai soaring on just one day towards becoming a concrete jungle. The effect of the fallen trees and the loss of habitat were palpable as birds gave vent loudly to their confusion.
Expert opinion has it trees, whether native or of the imported variety like the African baobab, which is common in Tamil Nadu, tend to fall more if their branches are not trimmed seasonally. Of course, official circles say they are scared to even order the trimming of avenue trees as the Greens would descend on them, venting their anger at destruction of green cover.
Dr Kalam, the beloved people’s president, believed that only planting of trees would save the green cover cities so badly need. Officials, however, point cynically to the survival rate of saplings and trees planted on ceremonial occasions and in drives at ‘greening’.
A simple comparison which would bring out how much Chennai has given way to concretisation is to see the picture of Mowbray’s Road from old Chennai and place it next to the glass and chrome buildings to see what modern architecture has reduced Chennai to.
The number of victim trees in RA Puram and Boat Club area, places that would be at least 2 degrees cooler than surrounding areas thanks to the canopy of trees, was in the hundreds. Those that fell in areas around the national park around the Raj Bhavan, in IIT and AU campuses, besides Taramani were innumerable.
The developers and builders may have been guilty of sacrificing trees for the dwellings they built. Even then, the loss was gradual. A natural disaster like Vardah seems to have excelled in sending Chennai soaring on just one day towards becoming a concrete jungle. The effect of the fallen trees and the loss of habitat were palpable as birds gave vent loudly to their confusion.
Expert opinion has it trees, whether native or of the imported variety like the African baobab, which is common in Tamil Nadu, tend to fall more if their branches are not trimmed seasonally. Of course, official circles say they are scared to even order the trimming of avenue trees as the Greens would descend on them, venting their anger at destruction of green cover.
Dr Kalam, the beloved people’s president, believed that only planting of trees would save the green cover cities so badly need. Officials, however, point cynically to the survival rate of saplings and trees planted on ceremonial occasions and in drives at ‘greening’.
A simple comparison which would bring out how much Chennai has given way to concretisation is to see the picture of Mowbray’s Road from old Chennai and place it next to the glass and chrome buildings to see what modern architecture has reduced Chennai to.
