Coimbatore: In what officials claim to be the first in the recent years in district, the district administration has decided to penalise a truck driver, whose vehicle crashed into a tree and brought it down near the bomb blast court here on Tuesday.
Around 11am on Tuesday, a truck belonging to private parcel service, hit a mayflower tree that was in front of the bomb blast court. “The 20-year-old tree was uprooted in the impact,” said K Syed of Osai, an environmental organisation, which took up the issue.
The commuters and workers of the court chased the truck and caught its driver, identified as S Thangavel, and alerted the revenue officials.
Officials from the tahsildar office inspected the spot and filed a report to the revenue divisional officer. As the cause of accident was identified as rash and negligent driving, a penalty would be slapped on the driver, an official said and added that the amount would be decided by the revenue divisional officer based on the extent of damage and cost of the tree.
“The case is treated on par with cutting the trees illegally, and for the first time, penalty will be slapped against a person for felling a tree,” the official added.