Neck-deep in complaints of overgrown trees, Mohali MC swings into action
In the past five days, Mohali MC has received around 50 complaints regarding dangerous trees and started a drive to cut overgrown and 52 additional dead trees
Days after the tree collapse incident at the Carmel Convent, wherein a Class 10 student lost her life, the municipal corporation (MC) of Mohali has found itself neck-deep in complaints regarding overgrown and dangerous trees.
In the past five days, the civic body has received around 50 such complaints and had started a drive to cut overgrown and 52 additional dead trees, identified in various parts of the city. Four teams for as many zones have been constituted to take down the trees.
MC commissioner Navjot Kaur said they had received several complaints of dangerous and overgrown trees after the Carmel Convent incident, adding that instructions had already been given to the officers concerned to take down dead and overgrown trees on priority. “We are hopeful of completing the drive within two weeks. MC has three pruning machines, one big and two medium,” she said.
Consumer Protection Forum president PS Virdi, meanwhile, said some of the overgrown trees, as tall as three-storey buildings, blocked sunlight and the branches got entangled in cables.
“It is posing a threat to vehicular traffic and commuters. Most of the signboards erected on the city roads for motorists can be seen covered with branches and leaves of these overly-grown trees, depriving them of finding directions,” he added.
A Phase-11 resident, Gopal Krishan, said people found it difficult to locate traffic signals at light points and crossings with the presence of branches of evergreen trees by the roadside.
Former deputy mayor Manjit Singh Sethi said the height of trees in many places had grown beyond 35 feet to 40 feet, which posed a major threat to the residents.
Detailing the progress of the drive, MC superintending engineer Harkiran Singh said some areas had already been covered and that the teams had also cut the dead trees, while they were pruning overgrown trees. “We don’t want to take any chances now,” he said.
