04 Jul 2022  |   08:07am IST

Need for axing dangerous trees in coastal areas

Citizen ROSARIO FERNANDES Arossim

Goa is blessed, inter alia, with nature’s bounty in the form of trees, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, lush green foliage with gently swaying stately coconut trees, etc. which is its USP. 

However, during squalls and incessant heavy rains, trees can prove to be disastrous to life and limb as well as property. Coastal areas, which have soft and sandy soil, are more prone to such disasters, specially uprooting of coconut trees. 

It is a known botanical fact that coconut trees have non-flexible trunks with a fibrous root system consisting of an abundance of thin roots that grow outward near the surface and hence do not have proper anchorage.

The Electricity Department faithfully carries out its annual pre-monsoon maintenance works by pruning the tree branches hanging over the live overhead electricity cables. 

However, it is not empowered to cut coconut trees from private properties, even if they bend towards or lean over such cables for fear of inviting complaints or litigation from owners. 

Recently during incessant rain in the early hours of June 27, 2022, an old coconut tree, which had outlived its useful life, uprooted and perched precariously on both the H.T. lines as well as the L.T. lines of Arossim beach road. In the process, one of the iron H.T. poles got bent, the electric cables became slack and electricity in the area was disrupted for the entire day. Fortunately, there were no untoward mishaps. The Electricity Department acted with alacrity and replaced the damaged H.T. poles, broken cables, etc. 

This incident underscores the dire need to speed up underground cabling. There is a wise old adage “Prevention is better than cure”. Hence, inspections and cutting of ruinous trees, if carried out periodically with a time line, would go a long way in reducing the work load and avoidable expenditure of the Electricity Department.