Forest officials inspect gated community to verify trimming
The Aparna Cyber County Owners Welfare Society had made a formal written request to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for pruning of trees in the gated community at Nallagandla before taking up the exercise themselves.
The society mentioned the risk faced by the residents, and lack of ventilation due to heavy growth of trees in the community and sought help from the GHMC for maintenance of greenery. However, with greenery maintenance in gated communities out of its purview, the corporation has not responded to the request nor provided any guidelines for handling it as per norms.
Indiscriminate pruning of the trees in the community has been flagged by green lovers on the social media, spurring the Forest Department officials into action.
On Tuesday, a team of forest officials visited the community and noted that branches of several Spathodea (African Tulip) trees were chopped. They held a meeting with the community and apprised them of the proper procedure to follow for pruning and maintenance of the trees. Forest Range Officer B. Lakshman said the inspection was taken up after a complaint from one of the residents, and that the community will be penalised for the violation.
Issuing a clarification in response to the news report, Trees trimmed to the stub haphazardly, published on Tuesday, secretary of Aparna Cyber County Owners Welfare Society, Srinivas Kanchibhotla said the trimmed trees were not Kadamba, but Spathodea (African Tulip) trees. They have a tendency to snap, break and crash at a moment's notice, and hence necessitated trimming.
Further, it was not one branch that snapped, but there were four different instances of branches crashing in front of different villas, the clarification said. They narrowly missed children passing by, parked four wheelers and compound walls of the villas.
The note also said a horticulturist associated with the builder of the community was consulted before taking up the trimming. He reportedly advised them to bring the tree height to 25-30 feet to maintain a low centre of gravity.
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