One more faces the axe


How many trees in Chennai are going to remain as unplanned and unhindered construction goes on in the name of development is anybody’s guess? How many trees were mercilessly chopped to make way for the GN Chetty flyover in T Nagar? It’s anybody’s guess again. It was once a lovely stretch of road, of shade. When I happened to pass by recently, I could not even recognise the road. It lay battered and bruised after the rain and floods. Now, of course, the battered and bruised roads will be tarred and paved and what else… For the flyover is to be inaugurated shortly.

How much are we losing in the name of development? Madras has changed so much that even a person like me who was a newcomer to the city in 1983 cannot recognise many parts of it now. Anyway, guess there is no point in dwelling on the past when it serves no purpose.

Today, I saw a lovely tree being cut down to its roots, on Lakshmanaswamy Salai (or is it Munuswamy Salai, there are so many Salais, you forget which one is which) in KK Nagar, close to the Adyar Bakery. It had overgrown no doubt, but pruning would have done. Nobody seemed to care, certainly not the residents of the apartment block before which the tree was being cut.

And yes, there’s money to be made here – but how wonderful it would have been if the tree was allowed to live and provide shade to passers-by as it has done for years!

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