Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will soon seek permission from the state Forest department to cut down some 100 odd trees that have been posing a risk of collapse.
According to sources in the Parks and Garden department of the KMC, the trees that are in the pull down list may fall on houses, walls or wayside shops. “We are apprehensive that some of them might fall on a pedestrian or a vehicle which may prove to be fatal,” said a senior official of the P&RD department.
Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim had issued instructions for health audit of the trees along city roads, including those places that are favourite among the morning walkers last month following the death of two workers of Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) after a eucalyptus tree fell on them in front of the office of HMC administrator Sujoy Chakraborty.
It may be noted that in May, a man was crushed to death when a tree fell on him at Rabindra Sarobar while he was resting under the tree. The audit has identified trees that are leaning, have signs of disease or termite infestation, or are otherwise in poor health. The exercise has been completed in several wards in 8 of the 16 boroughs under KMC.
The KMC has identified 160 leaning trees, 9 diseased trees, 28 dead trees and 100 that are in extremely dangerous condition. These trees are located in wards 17, 16, 10, 11, 28, 62, 46, 47, 54, 55, 87, 85, 83, 84, 86, 67, 69, 74, 71, 73, 82, 72, 74, 92 and 93.
“We cannot cut down a tree completely without a nod from the Forest department. Hence, we will soon write seeking permission. We have set a target of cutting down these trees before the Durga Puja and also trim trees where necessary for reducing its weight to prevent collapse,” said a senior official of Parks and Gardens department.
The civic body is expecting to finish at least 80 per cent of the survey work before Puja.