Residents raise complaints on bats, civic body cuts off 100-year tree’s branches
Instead of pruning the century-old tree, corporation staff cut off the branches completely, leaving only the stump behind.
Just the stump remaining of the tree
CHENNAI: A 100-year old silk cotton tree at Perambur was chopped off by the Greater Chennai Corporation recently, as the residents had been complaining of bat menace and its related health issues in the neighbourhood to the civic body for more than two years.
Instead of pruning the century-old tree, corporation staff cut off the branches completely, leaving only the stump behind.
Environment activists fumed that the tree, which had been a shelter-point for the public in this sweltering heat, had been cut down entirely.
“Hundreds of birds including parrots and bats used to live in the tree; it had never been a concern for the public. Recently residents and members of the nearby church raised complained that bat droppings have led to various health issues in the area. The bats are found roaming only at night; so people avoided using the road. If the corporation had received complaints, they should have pruned the tree and not cut off the branches,” said Ramaboopathy, a resident and civic activist at Perambur.
It’s noteworthy that the tree was not been damaged during natural calamities all these years. Activists lamented over the civic body’s utter disregard for the environment, as the city has been losing considerable greenery rate in the name of development and expansion.
V Sathiabalan, a resident of Pattalam stated, “Complaints raised by the residents and church management have been going on for a while. They wanted to cut off the tree as the bat droppings dirtied the parked cars. Also, the church has said that since the bats fly inside campus it’s a bad omen. We’re clueless why the Corporation authorities destroyed a tree without any consultation or exploring any other option.”
However, denying the allegation of the church’s role, a staff at the Waterbury Memorial Telugu Baptist Church said: “Hundreds of bats fly around the premises during the mass time. Also, during wedding ceremonies, bat droppings have become a huge problem. “We’ve volunteers to clean the mess in the campus but never raised complaints to the local body.”
Ward 71 Councillor Punitha Ethirajan said that there were many complaints about the bat menace in the area. Bat droppings have led to various health issues especially among the children. “We did not have a choice but than to cut off the tree. Initially, we planned to prune the tree but they started to argue with us so we had to chop the branches,” she added.