Tamil Nadu - Udhagamandalam   

Process applications for felling dangerous trees, officials told

Special Correspondent

111 houses partially damaged in the Nilgiris: Collector

Photo: D. Radhakrishnan

Work in progress: Dangerous trees along the Lord Wenlock Road in Udhagamandalam being felled on Monday. —

Udhagamandalam: With considerable damage having been caused in various parts of the Nilgiris by a large number of trees uprooted by strong winds and heavy rains over the past few weeks, the district administration has instructed officials to process applications for felling dangerous trees without delay.

Stating this to mediapersons here on Monday, the Nilgiris Collector, Santosh K. Misra, said that the Revenue Divisional Officers had been authorised to deal with the applications in accordance with the provisions of Section 133 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Pointing out that a decision on the applications would be taken within three days of the trees being inspected, he said that on no account would mass clearing be permitted. Stringent action would be taken against those who misused the permits. Loss of life due to uprooted trees would be compensated as per rules. Since many trees were stated to be leaning dangerously along the Ooty-Manjoor Road and a few other roads a team of officials headed by the Revenue Divisional Officer would conduct a survey over the next few days to identify such trees.

Mr. Misra said that due to inclement weather 111 houses had been partially damaged and four fully damaged. Disbursement of compensation to those affected was in progress. Stating that standing crops in some parts of the district, including banana, in Gudalur and surroundings over about 100 acres had been affected, he said that the loss was estimated to be about Rs. 25 lakh. The loss to the Electricity Board was estimated to be Rs. 25 lakh.

When it was pointed out that the Charing Cross area on the threshold of this hill station was in a state of neglect, he assured that appropriate steps would be taken to give the place a facelift.

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